Blind SOLDIER
by BlueFoxofWater1569
Summary: After Zack's death, Cloud is lost within himself. With a desperate plea to the heavens to give anything for the return of Zack, he is granted his wish…but he cannot see Zack… NOT YAOI! -COMPLETE-
1. Part I Prologue

Blind SOLDIER  
By BlueFox

Short Sum: After Zack's death, Cloud is lost within himself. With a desperate plea to the heavens to give anything for the return of Zack, he is granted his wish…but he cannot see Zack… NOT YAOI!! …Unless you squint REALLY hard.

Full Sum: At the cliff of the epic SOLDIER battle, when the clouds spew their rain of sadness at the death of Zack Fair, Cloud Strife is lost within himself. Unable to fend for himself on the streets of Midgar, he desperately pleas with the heavens to return his best friend's life. He is answered, and Zack returns, but no matter what, Cloud will never be able to see his friend's face again… NOT YAOI!! …Unless you squint REALLY hard.

Intro: As much of a good idea this may seem to be, it was very hard to start it and get it going. And just to let you know ahead of time, I don't know fully what Zack and Cloud really say, only what they say at certain points. So, if something doesn't fit, it's because it probably isn't said in the game. I don't have the game, but I will be getting it plus the Advent Children PSP this year, so I'll be playing it, and I'll surely be crying…

Anyway, I can only hope people will enjoy this fic, because I am working very hard on it, alongside Prophecies of the Unknown (all Clouna fans should go read it, please!!) and my novel, The Protectors Book II: Battlemage. Updates will hopefully happen quick, but I'm sorry if they happen few and far between. Once I get CC:FFVII, don't expect an update for a LOOOONNNNGGG time.

…Don't forget to submit a review!!

Disclaimer:

BlueFox: (sighs) I believe it is obvious I don't own Cloud, Zack, Sephiroth, Aeris, Tifa, or any of the cast of FFVII. I do, however, own FFVII!

Fang: And by that she means a strategy guide, a copy of the game, and the movie.

BlueFox: And Sephiroth's eyes!! I have Sephiroth's eyes, and I had them FIRST! So THERE! (pauses) OMGWTFBBQ! FAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNGGGGGGG! You're back! (fangirl tackles)

Fang: And that is why I was in the hospital in the first place. On with the fic, PLEASE!

****

Part I  
Prologue

_"In heaven, an angel is no one in particular."_

Bring Me to Life  
By Evanescence

How can you see into my eyes like open doors  
leading down into my core  
where I've become so numb

It was one versus the multitude. The blond knew it wouldn't end well, and he stretched his fingers toward his friend, who was walking into a great white abyss.

Don't…go…

His mind fuzzily thought out the words, but his mouth and voice would not work. A despair engulfed the young blond once the dark haired, violet-eyes man-his friend-was out of sight. Weakly, his hand dropped. He felt so helpless…

Without a soul  
my spirit sleeping somewhere cold  
until you find it there  
and lead it back home

With his hands on his waist, the 1st Class SOLDIER stepped forward to face down those sent after him. All of their guns were trained on him as helicopters circled above.

Ever grinning, he reached back, taking ahold of the Buster Sword and pulling it out in front of himself, his grin slowly fading. As he held it poised, he whispered something carried away easily on the wind. But one word was clear. "…Cloud."

And with that, he charged, and the epic SOLDIER battle began.

(Wake me up)  
Wake me up inside  
(I can't wake up)  
Wake me up inside  
(Save me)

The Shinra SOLDIERs were taken down one by one. No one could land a hit on the 1st Class SOLDIER. He smiled as he annihilated half of the enemies. Maybe… Maybe he and the blond would be all right. Maybe they could make it to Midgar after all. Maybe…

Pain exploded in his leg and he winced, spinning at the SOLDIERs left standing. More shots rang out, this time from a helicopter.

Hope ran thin.

And still he charged.

Call my name and save me from the dark  
(Wake me up)  
bid my blood to run  
(I can't wake up)  
before I come undone

He staggered back to his friend. He was unconscious, and for a second, he though the blond had been hurt or killed, but he was still breathing, and that's all that counted.

Blood dripped from the Buster Sword, the blood of his enemies, and some of it his own. And then, there was a blast that hit him hard. More of his blood fell upon his sword and he stumbled back to the edge of the cliff. Exhaustion caused him to fall onto his back, the Buster Sword clanging just out of reach.

His vision blurred in and out, and when it fully returned, he was being held at gunpoint.

Thirteen shots sounded in the air, pounding much lead into his body. They soon moved from his blurry vision and he blinked slowly as the Mako within him began to heal his wounds.

But he knew…that it was not enough…

(Save me)  
Save me from the nothing I've become  
Bring me to life  
(I've been living a lie  
there's nothing inside)  
Bring me to life

The blond was awakened by a soft drizzle of rain. Slowly, his eyes opened. There was silence, no fighting. The only sound he heard besides his own breathing, was the shallow breathing of another.

Moving his head forward, he saw his friend, the true SOLDIER, laying in a pool of blood, staring at the sky. The blond's breath caught in his throat, and yet he forced himself to crawl over to his friend.

The SOLDIER looked up through his violet eyes and blinked before grinning. "Are you going to be kay?" were the words the blond wanted to say, but just by looking, he knew the answer. The only thing that came from his mouth was: "Zack…"

He knew his friend was going to die.

The black haired SOLDIER lifted his left hand to the blond, wrapping it around the blond's shoulders, gently pulling him down onto his chest, where the blood from his thirteen bullet wound continued to flow, and his heart continued to slow.

"Live," he whispered. The simple word clenched the blond's heart and his eyes filled with rebellious tears. "You are the proof that I lived. So live, okay?" He numbly nodded, and the arm slid off. Slowly, the blond sat up and onto his knees, the SOLDIER's blood in his hair and on his cheek. This was it, and they both knew it.

Frozen inside without your touch  
without your love, darling  
only you are the life  
among the dead

The black haired SOLDIER, still smiling, looked over at the blood-drenched Buster Sword. "Take it," he said, picking it up and holding it to the blond.

He could feel his mind and body go numb as he slowly took the handle of the large blade. Looking down at his friend, trying not to let his lip tremble, he spoke. "I'll live out both of our lives. I promise."

And with that, 1st Class SOLDIER Zack Fair smiled broader, closed his eyes, and let go. Cloud Strife's eyes widened, his breath quickened, his throat ran dry. A rough sob escaped his throat as he turned his gaze upward to the pouring skies. And then, he screamed, his voice full of anguish, his hand holding the sword in a death grip, the tears spilling thickly over his cheeks.

All this time I can't belive I couldn't see  
kept in the dark  
but you were there in front of me  
I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems  
got to open my eyes to everything  
without a thought  
without a voice  
without a soul  
don't let me die here  
there must be something more  
bring me to life

He didn't know how much time had passed before his tears stopped falling, his voice stopped screaming, his hands loosened. Slowly, he looked toward his fallen friend, breathing hard.

He stared only a little longer before standing and turning. The clouds above him had long since broken up, shining the sun on him as if he was a holy man. He knew that they should instead be shining on Zack, the true hero, who had sacrificed his life for his best friend. His breath caught in his throat as he began his long walk down the mountain side, away from his friend's body.

Zack…

I'm sorry…

I would give anything…

to have you back.

Absolutely

anything.

(Wake me up)  
Wake me up inside  
(I can't wake up)  
Wake me up inside  
(Save me)  
call my name and save me from the dark

Zack's eyes opened. Feathers fell around him as he saw an angel enshrouded in the Lifestream with large, vibrant white wings glided down, stretching a gloved hand down to him.

"Hey," he spoke, reaching up, "I want wings like those." His body began to be lifted up with no effort whatsoever. Once he and the angel joined hands, there was a rush of feathers, and then Zack was gone, taken within the Lifestream.

Take care, Aeris, Spike…Seph.

You guys take care of yourselves.

Zack smiled. He was finally a hero.

(Wake me up)  
bid my blood to run  
(I can't wake up)  
before I come undone  
(Save me)  
Save me from the nothing I've become

Cloud couldn't remember how he came to the train station, nor how long it had taken him to get there. He had kept a good pace, his feet dragging all along. His dead eyes had stayed on a spot always so distant, his mind always so blank, except for one thought:

He's gone. I can't believe he's gone.

It was nighttime now, a lonely streetlamp illuminating the street. His body finally gave out by the stairs and he fell harshly onto them. Rolling over, Cloud hit the ground beneath the stairs. With a moan, he pushed himself into a sitting position. Looking up, he closed his eyes.

Zack, or whoever up there is listening… I will do anything to have him back. I will give_ anything, I'd give my life. I'd even go back to Hojo. Just please…give me my friend back._

A lone tears escaped his eye as his head finally drooped and he was lost to unconsciousness.

_(Bring me to life)  
I've been living a lie,  
there's nothing inside  
(Bring me to life)_

----

End:

BlueFox: It's done! (falls to the floor, breathing heavily)

Fang: It took you long enough.

BlueFox: Yeah! (mutters) It's not like you helped at all… (speaks up) Where's Zack?

Fang: Oh, I see. Edward and I aren't important anymore. Well, thanks. (randomly stomps off)

Zack: (pops on) Heyy! I'm here! Did I miss anything? (watches as BlueFox runs off after Fang) Aww…I'm all alone… (looks down) A PSP!! (plops down and begins to play) Heyy! Look! It's me!

R&R please. They'll be returned, loves!


	2. Part I Chapter One

Blind SOLDIER  
By BlueFox

Intro: Whoo, late update…Sorry. I'm feeling a little under the weather, and so I cut this Chapter in half. Oh, and in case anyone's wondering, this fic here has only two Parts, both that take place in the beginning of FFVII. Part One leads up to the Shinra HQ thing, and Part Two is the Shinra HQ thing. And then, the sequel, which is twice as long because it covers the rest of the game completely, will be out. So, think of this really as the prequel.

2nd Intro: Um, minor swearing in this chapter, just to warn you.

3rd Intro: O.O Over 1200 hits…that's more than any of my others…well, except my Bloopers… I mean guh…

Disclaimer:

**Fang:** Hiya, guys. BlueFox is sick today, so I'm doing the intro…

**BlueFox:** Hmph. He's not as good as me.

**Fang:** Huh?

**Cloud:** Could you be quiet so she can get some sleep? I mean, she's working herself so hard for her readers, you'd think she can't trust us with writing it…

**Fang:** Uh…Cloud?

**BlueFox:** (jumps off bed and starts throwing random objects at Cloud) I can't trust you, because the entire story would be filled with '……' and emos and crap! Damned baka!

**Fang:** Zack do the disclaimer, NOW!

**Zack:** She doesn't own Final Fantasy VII! (turns and tries to stop the flinging-objects-girl)

**Part I  
Chapter I  
**_"We're friends, right?"_

Zack was content. He was lazily spread-eagled on the gentle rolling hills of the Lifestream, letting it twine around his fingers and crawl up his legs, lifting him up and down languidly like a calm sea.

A lazy smile graced his face as he listened to the Lifestream hum and sing in his ears. Death wasn't so bad, or at least, not as bad as he had thought. He took a deep breath in, even though he didn't need to any longer. It was just an old habit of his not so easily let go of.

There was a chuckle by him, and his violet eyes begrudgingly opened. Standing over him was his old mentor, Angeal, the man who had given him the Buster Sword. "Smiling as always, I see," he remarked to his old student, who sat up with a sheepish scratch to the back of his and a just as sheepish grin.

"Old habit, I guess. Kinda like breathing, almost." He shrugged as Angeal laughed, then almost immediately went into serious-mode.

"Well, Zack, I've brought you some news."

Despite the seriousness in Angeal's voice, Zack could only innocently cock his head, still grinning. "News? About what?" He paused, and recognition reigned over him. his smile vanished, and his eyes widened slightly. "About…who?"

Angeal shifted slightly. "It's about your little blond friend. Cloud, was it?"

Zack was on his feet in a second. "What happened, Angeal? What the hell happened?" he demanded, grabbing Angeal's shoulders. "Is he dead?" He looked around, but did not see the familiar mass of unruly chocobo spikes anywhere. He glared back into Angeal's, who stared back in pure calm.

"No," he told his student. "No, he's not. But…neither are you."

Zack stepped back, confused more now than ever. "What? I don't understand…"

--

_Zack, or whoever up there is listening… I will do anything to have him back. I will give anything, I'd give my life. I'd even go back to Hojo. Just please…give me my friend back._

--

Now, Zack was awestruck. "They agreed?" Angeal nodded. "Oh no… I don't want to go back… I don't need to go back…do I?"

"It seems Cloud will need your support in the near future," his mentor explained. "They thought he could go on alone, but it seems his mind wouldn't be able to support him for long. So, we're sending you back to help him."

Zack uncharacteristically (O.O That's a long word) frowned. "Tell me, Angeal… What did they take from him?"

"I…myself do not know."

--

Moments later, Zack found himself at the scene of his death, blood still splattered all over the ground, but he was fully healed of all thirteen bullet wounds…and he was alive.

The gentle beating of his heart was a bit odd at first, because the Lifestream tended to make you forget a lot of things no longer needed in death. Slowly, the ex-SOLDIER sat up and the world spun around him fast and quite a few times. Looking around, he saw that Cloud had long since left, and that his plea had probably been made somewhere in Midgar. At least, he hoped.

Zack got to his feet, stumbling slightly and blinking hard. "Man…it feels like I've got a major hangover," he muttered, grinning despite the situation. Something caught his eye in his peripheral vision…something glowing. He turned fully and saw a huge bladed doubled-handed sword with the blade both dark blue and crystal clear.

It was the legendary Ultima Weapon.

Slowly, Zack reached down and picked up the blade, slashing it deftly through the air. "Where'd this come from?" he wondered aloud. _A gift,_ was his only answer. His scabbard was still on his back, so he sheathed it expertly. He sighed happily, feeling the comfortable weight on his back and smiling.

Looking over the edge of the cliff, he saw a city that he easily recognized as Midgar. Not wanting to risk anything, Zack turned to take the long way, only to freeze to his spot when he caught sight of four people approaching the cliff.

One was a large, buff, brown-skinned man with a gun on his arm, a smaller white chubby man, a normal built white man, and a woman with auburn colored hair. The big black man noticed him quickly and Zack merely stood there, in the middle of the battlefield, dumbstruck.

"There's one left!" the black man yelled, pointing at Zack with his gun arm. The other three stopped, staring at Zack, then at the leftover carnage of the day before.

"Barret, I don't think-" began the woman, but it was too late. Barret barreled toward Zack, whose violet eyes marginally widened. Gunshots rang out, and he unsheathed Ultima to shield himself with the large blade. "Barret, wait!"

Zack watched the others stop Barret from his shooting rampage and he reached back, sheathing his sword. The search for his friend would begin here, as soon as he could talk to them.

"Damned honkeys!" Barret swore, throwing them off and holding Zack at gunpoint. He instantly raised his hands in surrender. He could've easily taken them out, but he decided against it, because they could be of some help to him. "You! Shinra SOLDIER! The hell you doin' here?!" he demanded.

Zack knew this was no time for jokes, so he used all of his willpower and then some to stop from answering in the same butchered English Barret used as he answered. "I am no Shinra SOLDIER. Not anymore." He brandished a hand at the day old corpses. "This proves it."

"You did this?" the pudgy white dude asked, shocked.

"Hush up Wedge!" Barret snapped at him. "How do we know you ain't lyin'?"

Zack sighed. "You be dead," he said in that casual, blunt way he had. There was a pregnant and awkward pause before he continued. "Listen, I'm looking for a friend of mine. His name is Cloud Strife. Can you help me?"

Barret's gun arm never wavered, even as the woman stepped up to Zack. "Um… Well, we don't know a Cloud Strife, but we'd be happy to help you find him," she told him, flashing a kind smile. He returned it with a wink.

"Jessie…" Barret began. But then the skinny guy, Biggs, walked up to Zack.

"You said you don't work for Shinra anymore?" he asked, looking Zack up and down.

"No way. Not after what they did to me and Cloud." He put a hand to his forehead with a sigh. He wished that Cloud had never given whatever he had to bring him back. He was sure Cloud would've been able to fend for himself eventually, but it was inevitably his job to watch over Cloud now, just as it had always been.

"Well, we'll help you find your friend…if you help use save the Planet," offered Biggs.

"The HELL?!" Barret exclaimed, running over. "Ex-SOLDIER? On AVALANCHE?! I don't trust 'im!"

"I do," Jessie defended.

"So do I." Biggs stood taller and Wedge came over.

Zack scratched his head. "Just how are we going to save the Planet?" he asked, and Jessie smiled at him.

"By blowing up the Reactors, or course," she told him, and his eyes widened.

"Are you crazy?!" he yelled, throwing his arms out in shock. There was silence after that little outburst, until he sighed and dropped his arms. "All right. When do we do it?"

"Today."

--

At the Train Station…

A guard was kneeling down in front of a young man. "What's the matter, the guard asked the boy, seeing the tear streaks that had dried sometime during the night. He pitifully moaned, and the guard shook his head. "……Poor kid," he sympathized. He moaned again as the guard stood. Curious, the young fightress named Tifa walked to the young man's side from her spot where she had been watching.

"Are you all right?" she queried softly.

He raised his head, still moaning slightly. His blond eyebrows furrowed. "Uh…uh…Tifa…?" Tifa cocked her head, curious as to how he knew who she was, and why he kept his eyes closed.

"Tifa!" She was silent for a few moments, before it clicked. She dropped to her knees and hugged him.

"Oh Cloud!" she cried.

Cloud nodded on her shoulder. "That's right. I'm Cloud." He spoke as though it was a bad thing.

Tifa leaned back, putting her hand on his cheek, smiling broadly. "Is it really you, Cloud? I never thought I'd find you here!" she exclaimed, ecstatic to see him.

"Yeah, it's been awhile," he agreed softly, before he opened his eyes. "Not a second later, his face became confused, then frightened. "Where are you?" He blindly reached out, putting his hands on her shoulders, and moving his head in her general direction. Tifa cocked her head in question. It was then that she realized she could be treading on dangerous water. She picked her words carefully, he voice becoming tight.

"Cloud, I'm right here," she told him softly.

"Here where?" his voice was becoming shrill with panic. He moved his head around in a frenzy, his mako blue eyes never moving. But she took his head in her hands and looked into his eyes closely. They weren't a bright blue…they were a foggy blue. She bit her lip as his own lip trembled. "All I see…is darkness!" his breathing quickly picked up as he reached hyperventilation from fear. His hands withdrew from her shoulders to claw at his throat. "T-Tifa? I can't see." He gasped. "I can't breathe… What's wrong?!" He threw his face away from her hands and toward the sky…or rather the plate above them.

Gently, Tifa took his chin and moved his face back to facing hers. "Oh Cloud…" A feeling of despair washed over her as she threw a punch at his face, stopping it at the last second, her heart sinking when he didn't so much as bat an eyelash. She pulled him against her, tears leaking from her burgundy eyes. "Y-You're blind…"

Cloud's body went stock still, before going completely limp. He had fainted.

--

The train came to a slow stop. At once, Jessie lunged out, kicking an MP, incapacitating him, as Wedge picked one up and threw him to the ground. Barret and Biggs ran out. Looking around, he gave Zack the signal and the once-dead SOLDIER vaulted off the top of the train.

"C'mon newcomer," he told Zack. "Follow me." Barret ran off, leaving Zack to just stare after him.

"I have a name, you know," he mumbled after Barret rounded a corner. Zack nabbed two Potions off the fallen guards, and upon doing so, two more MPs ran out. Zack stood up with a sigh as they attacked.

Swiftly, he dodged their lousy attacks, unsheathed the Ultima Weapon, and quickly slashed their backs. It was a deadly blow, and he grimaced slightly before resheathing the giant weapon and following Barret's trail inside.

He met up with Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie by a large locked door, where Jessie was decoding the password that would let them in. As Zack approached, Biggs turned to him, looking awe-inspired. "WOW!" he exclaimed. "You used to be in SOLDIER all right! …Not everyday ya find one in a group like AVALANCHE."

Jessie looked confused. "SOLDIER?" she questioned. "Aren't they the enemy? What's he doing in AVALANCHE?"

There was silence as Biggs shook his head, Wedge sighed, and Zack stared at her like she was an idiot. "Hold it, Jessie," began Biggs as Jessie looked ready to attack Zack. "He WAS in SOLDIER. He quit them and is now one of us." He turned to Zack. "Didn't catch your name…"

Zack blinked, realizing a little late that he had never introduced himself. "Err…sorry about that," he replied sheepishly, scratching the back of his head and laughing nervously. "It's Zack. Zack Fair."

"Zack, eh?" Biggs nodded at him, obviously liking the name. "I'm Biggs."

Zack was about to say, "I know," but he didn't want to seem cold-it was more of Seph's forte-so he just nodded. "I'll remember that…Biggs." He made it seem as if he had to take a second to remember, for added effect. Biggs smirked as Zack looked at Jessie. "Is there any way you can hurry up?" he asked her. Her back stiffened and he mentally smacked himself. _Don't sound so cold, damn idiot!_ he reprimanded himself. _She won't like you the more you act like a cold bastard._ "I'd just rather not let anyone from Shinra know I'm…" he paused, thinking of the right word, "…here."

Barret approached them from the right. Seeing the group, his anger boiled. "The hell you're doin'?!" he demanded loudly. "I thought I told you never to move in a group!" He pointed beyond the gate Jessie was working on. "Our target's the North Mako Reactor. We'll meet on the bridge in front of it." Zack saw, out of his peripheral vision, that Barret was glaring at him. _Ugh…_ he thought. _I'm starting to think this wasn't worth it…_

There was a BANG! as the gate Jessie was working opened. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie moved on as Barret blocked Zack's path. "Ex-SOLDIER, huh?" Zack stared. "I still don't trust ya!" As he ran on, Zack looked up at the towering Number 1 Reactor. _This's all for you, Spike. All for you._ After another pause, he hurried on after Barret and the others. He ran into the group not long after getting inside the Reactor. "Yo!" Barret called him over. "This your first time in a reactor?"

_Containers with hideous experiments…_

_"N-No…not me, too."_

_The insanity and betrayal…_

_"You're not the Sephiroth I once knew!"_

_Pain…_

_Pain._

_Pain!_

Zack flinched, but it seemed that no one noticed. "No," he answered. "After all I did work for Shinra, y'know."

Barret didn't seem to hear his last statement and went on. "The planet's full of Mako energy," he said. "People here use it everyday. It's the lifeblood of this planet. But Shinra keeps suckin' the blood out with these weird machines."

Zack sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I know, I know," he stated, trying to not sound annoyed. "Can we hurry?"

That apparently caused Barret to snap. "That's it!" he yelled. "You're comin' with me from now on." Zack sighed as he and Barret followed Biggs and Jessie to the elevator. Zack pushed the button and as they headed downward, Barret spoke with him again.

"Little by little the reactor'll drain out all the life," he told the ex-SOLDIER. "And that'll be that."

That was it. Barret was on Zack's bad side now, and his violet eyes flashed dangerously at Barret.

He replied, "Not my call."

"The planet's dyin', Fair!"

_Doesn't this guy know when to SHUT UP?_ Zack mentally fumed, not letting his anger to his exterior. _I really am starting to regret doing this…_

--

_Zack looked out at all of the new recruits, scanning them over as they chattered amongst themselves. He hated listening to speeches, and he hated giving them just as much. He sighed, getting prepared to silence everyone, when he recognized someone._

_The boy with the unruly blond spikes stood by the door, ready to bolt out at any given instant. His blue eyes remained plastered to a certain group of people, the ones who Zack had caught beating up on him before._

_Zack grinned and walked to the blond. "So, he began in a casual, friendly tone. The blond's eyes went to him and became impossibly wide. He began to salute, but Zack shook his head as the boy stared at him in disbelief, probably wondering why a First Class SOLDIER was talking to someone like him. "You wanna be in SOLDIER, huh?" Zack asked. He grinned, patting the boy's shoulder. "Well, hang in there." He ruffled the boy's hair and went to start his speech._

--

"We're friends, right?" Zack whispered before answering Barret. "The only thing I care about is finishing this job as fast as we can." Barret glared at him, and Zack's temper flared. "I don't care about the money, but I NEED to find Cloud! his life depends on it, dammit!" he clenched and unclenched his fists as he glared back at Barret, who became just as angry.

However, just as he was about to answer, the doors slid open and Zack quickly followed Jessie out. They met little resistance as they descended the stairs into the reactor. Zack picked up another Potion by Jessie's position before following Barret to their destination.

Both of them seemed to have calmed down by then, and they kept their voices under control. "When we blow this place, this ain't gonna be more than a hunka junk," Barret told him. "Zack, you set the bomb."

Zack stared at the big gunman as he tossed the ex-SOLDIER a pipe bomb. "Shouldn't you do it?" he questioned, an eyebrow raised.

"Jus' do it!" Barret ordered. "I gotta watch to make sure you don't pull nothin'."

Zack rolled his eyes. "Fine, be my guest," he mumbled, setting the bomb. As he did so, Angeal spoke to him.

"Zack," he warned. "This is no normal reactor."

Zack paused, shaking his head before nodding. "……What's wrong?" Barret asked.

He looked up. "Huh?" he asked.

"What's wrong, Zack?" Zack blinked. "Hurry it up."

That's when he remembered what was going on. He turned back to the bomb. "…Yeah, sorry," he mumbled again. He finished setting the bomb. Not long after, an alarm began to go off. Barret turned toward the way they had come and swore.

"Heads up, here they come!"

Standing at least five to six feet taller than the men was the Guard Scorpion. It first used its Search Scope on Barret, then attacked. Barret countered with a few rounds.

"Let's short circuit it, shall we?" Zack grinned, putting his mastered Bolt materia into one of the many slots on the Ultima Weapon. He didn't notice the tail raise until he sent a weak Bolt Spell out at it.

He and Barret fell prone to a vicious Tail Laser attack.

"Damn, man!" Barret yelled, downing a Potion in a gulp. Zack opened on of his stolen Potions and drank it, too. "That hurt!"

"Really? Sorry I didn't notice!" Zack snapped as the Guard Scorpion lowered its tail. Before Barret could reply, Zack let forth a Bolt3 spell. The thing began to spark and sizzle, before exploding and throwing the men back. Zack's hand hit the timer on the bomb, setting it to just ten minutes of escape.

"Clumsy dumbass!" Barret swore at Zack, standing. "You weren't in SOLDIER, were ya?"

Zack stood. "Would I be in this uniform if I wasn't?" He sheathed the Ultima Weapon on his back. "Are you coming or not? I'd rather not get blown up." _Okay,_ he thought, _it's impossible to be nice to this guy. I've tried, and I'm not trying again._

Barret didn't move, and Zack sighed. "Come on, let's get outta here!" he said, roughly shoving Barret forward, spurring the big man into a run. As they made their way out, Zack ran into Jessie.

"Zack help!" she cried to him. "My leg-it's stuck!" Without hesitating, Zack ran to her and quickly, but gently, pulled her leg out. He picked her up on his back without a word, and continued toward the exit. The elevator ride seemed longer than usual. When it flew open, Zack charged out. Jessie and Biggs unlocked the doors and all of AVALANCHE sped out like bullets.

Behind them, the Reactor exploded.

The force of it, sent Zack stumbling, and Jessie tightened her grip. Zack fell face forward, smashing his face harshly on the metal mesh ground.

"Run," he told Jessie, immediately feeling her weight leave his body as she limp-ran. Zack flipped himself over, seeing the inferno rush upon him. Thinking quickly, he pulled out a yellow materia from his pocket. Glancing at it, he grinned.

Enemy Skill.

As Jessie made it to her group, they all heard a loud roar of fire and what sounded like steel being ripped. She was roughly pulled out of the way as the roof came crashing down above her.

"ZACK!!" Jessie screamed, struggling against Biggs' iron grip. "ZACK!!"

There was silence.

--

End:

W00T chapter done. So, so SO sorry it took so long to get out. Contrary to popular belief, no, I haven't given up on this fic, and I don't plan to for awhile. I hope you guys stuck with me for this chapter and didn't get chased off for the Special Bonus Chapter thing…

R&R please! I'll return them!

Oh, and Happy Birthday Hitler, you sick evil bastard!

Happy 4/20!


	3. Part I Chapter Two

Blind SOLDIER  
By BlueFox

Intro: Eep…sorry Blood Zephyr…I didn't know you had been waiting that long… neh heh heh heh… And GoldenGirl, you'll have to wait just a little longer for Aeris to fully come in. She plays a small roll in this chapter, but a big roll overall to the progress of this story. I think you'll be very happy (wink). BTW, love the penname! Same with Blood Zephyr…makes BlueFox seem a bit dull in some lights…

Sorry if there is a lack of updating, because I just got Final Fantasy Origins (I and II) and I know I'm gonna be hooked to it for awhile… XP. (cough) Well anyway…just letting my faithful readers know that I'm not about to give up (UNDERSTAND, Armageddon?) on this story by a long-shot. Over my dead chair. I'd rather not die before I've played ALL Final Fantasies out so far (excluding 13 and 3).

Currently listening to: Crisis Core Soundtrack Disc 2. Gotta love it!

Disclaimer: The only thing of FFVII I own is Sephiroth's eye color (had it FIRST!) and Zack's personality. Everything else is property of Squaresoft and Square Enix respectively.

Cloud: WTH?! You made me BLIND?!

BlueFox: O YAH! Forgot to say that I also own blind Cloud! And I own Tiffania! So THERE, Square Enix! All up in your faces!!

Part I  
Chapter 2  
_"I don't know how I got this way; I know it's not all right."_

"She never came." Wedge broke the dead, heavy silence over the small group of AVALANCHE in the train. Biggs nodded gravely, Barret huffed, and Jessie was oddly silent.

"I wonder if she died, too?" Biggs mumbled.

Barret glared. "No way!!" he declared. "She's the best we've got! Ain't nothing's gonna kill her!"

"Zack……" Jessie moaned softly, obviously blaming herself for Zack getting blown sky high with the reactor.

"Say, do you think Zack would've……fought to the end for AVALANCHE?" Biggs questioned. He missed the cheerful black haired man whose presence brightened up a room, even with Barret around.

"The hell would I know?!" demanded Barret, slight guilt in his gruff voice. He was probably sorry he wasn't nicer to Zack before the explosion. "Do I look like a mind reader? Hmph!!" He slammed his gun-arm onto the crate beside him. "If y'all weren't such screw-ups…" He trailed off, grumbling.

"Hey, Barret!" began Wedge, looking slightly brighter. "What about our money…?" Barret slammed his gun-arm on the crate again and Wedge jumped slightly. "Uh, nothin'…sorry." His high was brought mercilessly down.

****

THUD.

Everyone in the car jumped and looked around. Outside, they heard a feminine voice only slightly over the roaring of the train. "Ahhh……"

The door then flew open and in backflipped a redheaded woman, twin braids bouncing, violet eyes alight with mirth as she stuck her landing right in front of Barret. There was a moment of silence before she broke out into a huge smile as everyone cheered.

"Tiff!!" Biggs and Wedge cried, pumping their fists into the air as she stood, flicking her bangs out of her eyes, glowing with mako.

She gave a sheepish look around before nervously laughing at a seething Barret. "Looks like I'm a bit late." She reached back and rubbed the back of her head slightly, her hand resting lightly on a longer-than-normal sheathed blade at her left hip.

"You damn right, you're late!!" Barret roared, and she didn't flinch-that's just how she was. "Come waltzin' in here makin' a big scene!"

Tiffania Adams shrugged. "It's no big deal," she told him cheerfully. "You know that's what I always do."

Barret slammed his gun-arm down again on the crate. "Shit! Havin' everyone worried like that, you don't give a damn 'bout no one but yourself!"

Tiffania put a hand to her chin in thought. "Hmm……you were worried about me!" She pointed an accusing finger at Barret and poked him in the chest.

"Wha?!" Barret blushed fiercely and turned away, preparing to move into the next car. "Okay, hot stuff, I'm giving you a new mission, with no pay!" Her mouth dropped. "How do you like that?" He turned to her. "Your mission's ta go back to that reactor we just blew up and find someone named Zack Fair." She blinked, sobering up and becoming serious at Zack's name. "He saved Jessie from becoming fried woman and I gotta promise to keep with him, so you bring him back, you hear?"

Tiffania nodded. "Will do."

Barret turned to the others, all of whom had exceptionally happy and hopeful looks on their faces. Tiffania was the best member of AVALANCHE they had-if anyone could get Zack back (Rhyme +5) it would be her. "As for the rest of ya, wake up! We're movin' out! Follow me!" He turned back and jumped into the next car.

Wedge clapped Tiffania on the shoulder. "Hey, Tiff! You were great back there! Ya gotta fill me in on the details of that Underground Sector Eight mission when you get back!" he told her enthusiastically. She flashed him the thumbs up and he followed Barret into the next car.

Biggs playfully tugged at her twin braids. "Heh heh……" he chuckled. "Tiff! We'll do even better next time," he declared before following Wedge.

Jessie was last. "Be careful," she said to Tiffania. "I'll shut this after you get out."

"You seem distant," Tiffania remarked.

"Do I?"

"Does Zack mean a lot to you?"

"Well…he saved my life." Jessie sighed. "It's my fault he was blown up anyway." Jessie turned to Tiffania with bright eyes. "But I know you'll be able to find him, somehow…right?"

Tiffania smiled. "No challenge has beaten me yet."

Jessie smiled, too. "Right. See you when you get back."

Tiffania smiled, waited for the opportune moment, and threw herself right out of the train, landing not too far from the center square, and definitely not far from Reactor Number 1. Brushing herself off, she walked forward, only to be stopped by a small hand whose wrist was adorned with a golden bangle. _I know that bangle…_

"Tiffania," Aeris greeted softly as Tiffania turned her head to the flower girl.

"Aeris. How are you? Flowers selling well?"

Aeris nodded. "They're only a gil if you want one," she answered, and Tiffania flipped her a coin. "Oh! Thank you! This is the first time you've bought one!" she handed Tiffania a bluebell, and she tucked it behind her ear.

"I know." She then noticed that some of the light was dimmed in Aeris' normally very bright eyes. "Something wrong, Aeris?"

Slowly, the petite brunette put a hand to her chest, feeling her heart thud back, strong and alive. "It still hurts, you know?" she whispered, and Tiffania knew what she was talking about.

"Zack."

"Yes." There was silence, before Aeris asked yet another question. "Tiff…why did you jump off that train? You don't live anywhere around here, last I checked."

"Mission," the redhead explained offhandedly.

"Oh? For what?" Aeris began fiddling with one of her spiral bangs, ever curious as to what an old friend was up to.

Tiffania hesitated. _Should I tell her that Zack is alive? Or should I let her wait and see for herself? _After some internal struggling, she decided that it would be best to tell Aeris, because chances were, once Zack was able to, he'd go to Aeris' church, and if she thought he was dead…it would be a big old mess. "To save an old friend," she replied.

Aeris' eyes grew slightly dark. "Seph…" She was silenced by Tiffania shaking her head.

"Zack. I'll bring him to you once I've got him back." She fingered the flower in her hair as Aeris gave her a look that said: You aren't serious. "Thanks for the flower. It's really pretty." She then walked off in the direction of Reactor 1.

* * *

"Heyy!" called a feminine voice, breaking through the fog surrounding his head. "Heyy! Anyone in here? Hello!"

Grumbling, Zack turned his head in the direction of where the voice was coming from-straight above. "I was trying to sleep…" he muttered, blinking hard. He reached up to wipe the grit from his eyes, only to be met with a shower of white hot pain in his right arm, causing him to let out a very loud grunt. He heard shifting somewhere far above him, and a shaft of light fell on his face.

"Anyone down there?"

After a second of the mako in his eyes quickly adjusting to the light, Zack made a slight shift and sat up slowly, using his left forearm to brace himself on the metal dust encrusted floor. "Yeah. Me."

"Zack?"

"That's my name."

"FINALLY!" The female above him let out a whoop. "Three days! It's taken me three days to find you! God, did you have to be buried under the biggest pile of debris?"

"It wasn't my fault!" Zack whined, turning his glowing violet eyes to look at his right arm through the darkness. He did not like the way it was bent, nor the fact that his shoulder was dislocated, and since all of the mako in his system was gone-except for the small amount in his eyes-it wasn't healed.

"You hold tight down there. I'm just gonna get the rest of this crap off of you, okay?" He waved offhandedly as she moved away from his shaft of light. Fumbling around, he managed to get onto his knees and find the Ultima Weapon with his good hand. Glancing along it, he noticed that he didn't have his restore materia with him. Looking around some more, he caught sight of a shattered yellow sphere-the Enemy Skill materia-that held the spell that had saved his second life. Big Guard.

"And now I can't use White Wind," he muttered, before moaning slightly and flopping down on his back, hissing in pain as he jarred his dislocated and broken arm. Luckily that seemed to be his only wound, plus a few third degree burns here and there. The minutes seemed to go by pretty quickly as he dosed lightly. Suddenly, when he opened his eyes, a braid was dangling in front of his face, and his legs were being crushed on the largest piece of machine debris in the entire pile.

Mako violet eyes stared into mako violet eyes.

When the throbbing of his legs became too much, and the fact that he couldn't feel his right arm worrying him, he shifted. The debris didn't move. Sighing in exasperation as the redheaded, violet eyed woman watched him with a curious expression, he lifted his head up only to see…

…that she was sitting on her knees, on the debris.

Smiling in that charming way of his, Zack looked at the woman again. "Wouldja mind…moving?" The last part of the sentence was forced, as he tried to move the piece of debris off him again, succeeding only in knocking the air out of his lungs. He laid back, slightly unable to get adequate breaths in.

"Oh…sorry," she said sheepishly, rolling off the debris and onto her feet. She watched as he lifted one leg and then kicked the debris on him off, and over the edge of the metal mesh area. Sitting up, he ran his left hand through his spikes, before jumping to his feet. "Here-let me fix that."

Before Zack could protest, she snapped his dislocated shoulder back into place and popped his bone back to where it should be. For one of the few times in his life, Zack sent out a truly agonizing scream that was muffled near the end as he dropped his head onto her shoulder.

Still holding onto his arm, the woman chanted out several Cure3s before his arm was fully healed, but still quite numb. Zack slowly lifted his head and gave her a shaky smile. "Thanks…but next time could you be a little more gentle?" She laughed.

"I'll try. Anyway," she extended her left hand, "I'm Tiffania Adams. I'm guessing you're Zack Fair?"

He took it and they shook, smiling strongly at each other. "Yup that's me. How'd you know?"

She let go of him, spun, and took a few wistful steps toward the exit. "Barret and the rest of AVALANCHE are worried about you, so they sent me to find you. They want to keep that promise to you or something. I take it the promise is important?"

"Promise?" Zack scratched his head, trying to remember. A familiar head of blond spikes came into his mind's eye and in a snap he remembered. "Right! They were gonna help me find Cloud!"

Tiffania nodded, wiping the sweat off her brow, which only resulted in getting a black smudge across her forehead. "Righty then." She pointed dead ahead. "Let's go back!"

* * *

Upon Arriving at Seventh Heaven…

"Zack!" was his first greeting as Jessie threw herself at the raven-haired ex-SOLDIER, crying her eyes out. He stumbled before grinning and wrapping an arm around her. "Oh God you're alive! I thought I had killed you!"

"But…how could you have? You didn't cause the explosion," Zack told her, confused.

She stepped back, sniffing and wiping her tears. "I made the bomb, plus I left you behind when it blew up. Without word from Tiffania in three days…we all thought you were a goner, especially Tifa." She nodded her head toward a woman who was talking with Tiffania.

She had long black hair held in a long ponytail with a single ribbon at the bottom, a black mini skirt and white tank top, fighter's gloves, and hiking boots with a steel edge hook to them. Using his acute hearing, he homed in on what the two were saying.

"…so glad you brought him back. I don't know what I would've done if I was alone with him."

"Ah, don't worry about it. It wasn't as hard as it seems, but it did take it's toll on my body. I'm probably going to need a good rest after this." Tiffania pinwheeled her right forearm and grimaced. "Plus I'm as dirty as all hell."

Tifa smiled. "Well, I'm sure the shower's free, if you want to use it, and then head out," she told the redhead.

"Head out where?" Zack spoke up, and they looked at him.

"Oh, I'm going to stay with Aeris for a day or two to recuperate," Tiffania explained to him. Zack's eyes brightened, and he opened his mouth to ask her a question, but she waggled a finger playfully at him. "I know what you're going to ask. No, you can't come. There's someone here who needs your attention much more than the flower girl."

"Who?"

Tifa and Tiffania looked at each other before sighing. "Tifa will show you as I go to take my shower and pack. I feel icky." With that, she gave a slight wave, yawned, and headed up a hidden set of stairs.

Tifa gave Zack a grave look. "Barret told me you needed…to find Cloud Strife?" she questioned carefully.

"Yes," he told her, calming his churning insides. "Do you know where I could find him?"

There was a pregnant pause, before she reached forward and took his hand in hers. A slight warm, tingling sensation spread through his body at her touch, and she gave his hand a slight squeeze. "He's upstairs. But you may not like what's happened to him."

With that word of warning, Zack gave a nod, Tifa let go of him, and he followed Tiffania's footsteps up to a hidden area, full of rooms. There was a door slightly ajar right by the staircase, and he gently pushed it open, only to be rewarded with a struggling Cloud Strife, caught up in a cocoon of blankets.

Elation swept through Zack's body as he surged forward and ripped the blankets off of Cloud. "Spike!" he managed to choke out, and Cloud tensed up at his friend's voice.

"Z-Zack?" he whispered feebly, reaching out and putting a hand onto his shoulder. "Is it really…?"

Zack couldn't hold it in anymore; he embraced the blond tightly, and Cloud let out a choked yelp at the familiarity of it.

But…he couldn't _see_ Zack. And realizing it, he went limp in Zack's arms. Zack withdrew back, to have Cloud's head droop forward and a soft, shuddering breath break through. Zack's brows furrowed. "Hey, buddy, what's the matter?" Zack questioned. "You not happy to see me?"

That was when Clod's carefully rebuilt wall crumbled to dust, he groped around for a second before finding Zack's elbows, and opened his foggy eyes, and moved his head up toward Zack's general direction. "How can I be _happy_ to _see_ you, Zack, when I _can't see you_?" he asked in a choked breath.

The door creaked behind the pair, and Tifa cleared her throat softly to let Cloud know it was her. "Zack…can I talk to you outside, and alone?" she asked him softly.

Cloud's grip was suddenly vicelike. "Don't go," he whispered. "What if this is a dream? I'll wake up, and I'll be able to see, and you'll be dead, and-"

He was quieted by Zack's hand on his mouth, his head bent. "This isn't a dream, Cloud," he said in a sotto voce. "Though…I wish it was." He pressed Cloud down onto the bed, watching with a pained look as Cloud groped around for a blanket, and upon finding it, threw it over his head. As he stared at the quivering lump in the bed, he felt as though he was in a dream. He could hear Cloud sobbing, and each sob tore away and ate at his heart.

Zack was about to get lost in the heart wrenching sobs of his best friend when he felt a calm, warm hand touch his arm.

"Zack…will you come with me?"

Slowly, Zack tore his gaze away from the bed sheets he had been staring at to see Tifa. He tried not to look at the lump under the sheets that was Cloud as Tifa tugged at his arm to get him to come.

The sound of Cloud's sobs still rang through his mind as Tifa led Zack down the steps. When they came to the bar, she sat him down next to her in a stool, and took a deep breath, still holding his hand.

"What the _hell_ is going on here?" Zack finally managed to growl out, not caring what he sounded like; only wanting an answer, though he was damn sure he knew what it was, and who did it.

Tifa squeezed Zack's hand gently. "Cloud is completely blind," she whispered.

That confirmed it. Zack's anger melted away, and instead he thought he was going to fall into a black hole. Everything started to dim around him, and he didn't know if there was anything below him but darkness. "What…?" Even his own voice sounded far off and distant to himself. He wasn't really sure he said anything. _Cloud is completely blind._ That statement kept running through his mind, over and over again. Tifa's soft, saddened voice turned into venom and evil glee. Zack ripped his hand from hers and spun away, muttering, "Those bastards," under his breath.

"I'm sorry, Zack…" she whispered, tentatively touching his shoulder. "I know it's hard…I was his friend back in Nibelheim. I know it hurts."

Numbly, Zack nodded, before feeling another gentle touch on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Tiffania, hair damp and freely gliding down her back, with her hand on his shoulder, her mako violet eyes soft. "I'm sorry, Zack," she told him, before stepping away. With a slight nod to Tifa, she left.

Tifa got up from her seat and stepped out in front of Zack. He looked up, and saw that her burgundy colored eyes were clouded over with tears. "I don't know how he got this way," she mumbled. "I know it's not all right."

Without a second though, Zack stood and pulled Tifa into a tight embrace, and she held on for dear life.

__

Cloud is completely blind.

Oh God…what do I do now?

--

End:

Okay, I'm going to stop it there, mainly because if I continue onward, I'm just going to start crying, and I don't like to cry when I write…I really don't. Just to let you know now, NO Tiffania is NOT a Mary Sue! She has definite flaws to her. She can be very spacey at times, random, she disappears a lot, and…well, you learn a lot more about her later on. But she is NOT a Mary Sue, so please don't go asking me. She is not a version of me in any way, shape, or form, except maybe for the randomness. So please don't review going: "Oh, you put a Mary Sue/OC in. I'm not going to read anymore because of it." cause that's just…rude.

Okay, now that that tirade is over, I've decided to give you a quick little telling of the pairings in this fic.

Implied Zeris

Implied CloTif

Zifa

Cleris

And that's all so far! Maybe I'll do a Yuffientine in here, but don't expect it. Well, anyway, please R&R! If I don't get any reviews, I'll get all sad and this story will never be finished…and then where will we be? So please R&R!


	4. Part I Chapter Three

Blind SOLDIER  
By BlueFox

Intro: Thank you all still for your reviews, I feel all happy you still read, despite there being an OC in here. Ooh! Here come the fuzzies! (squeals)

Okay, I'm really sorry for the long updates when it comes to this story, I really am. But as for why…originally it was school, then I got hooked onto playing Chrono Cross, then I was replaying Pokémon Emerald, and now I have nothing to do. Oh! InuYasha's on, but I've already seen the episode, so.

But enough! Please, enjoy this overly waited chapter! I now give you... Chapter 3!

Disclaimer: I own this sandwich. (points to turkey sandwich before stuffing it in mouth) I also own Tiffania. But I won't eat her.

Currently listening to: Various songs by Within Temptation.

Part I  
Chapter Three  
_"There's no escape now, no mercy no more."_

Zack opened heavy-lidded eyes and looked around. It took him a moment to realize just where he was. _Right,_ he thought, reaching up to wipe at his red eyes. _I'm in Tifa's bar, the Seventh Heaven. Cloud's completely blind. I think that was the longest time I've ever wept for someone. God, I feel weak._

Swinging his legs off the lone bed in his room, Zack placed his face in his hands. _They just _had _to take his sight away. Sick bastards. "Oh, we'll give you back Zack, but you just won't be able to see him. That okay with you?"_

Zack ground his teeth before hearing a gently knock on his door. Rubbing his face, he looked up. "Hm?"

"Zack?" It was Tifa. "Barret wants us to meet down in the bar, okay? Says he's got another mission for us."

"All right."

In truth, after the night before, Zack didn't feel up to doing anything. He'd very much rather lay in bed like Cloud was doing, and waste away…

--

__

Tiffania spun, mako violet eyes flashing at the SOLDIERs surrounding her. Her shoulders slumped.

"You were the one always protecting me." Her hand went to her sword slowly. "But this time I think I protected you. I'm leaving the rest up to you…"

--

Zack's eyes shot open and his head lifted. "What?" he murmured. "Leaving the rest up to who? What in the-"

"Yo! Zack!" Barret called from outside his room. "You comin' down or not?"

Zack shot to his feet. "Y-Yeah, I'm coming!" he quickly stuffed his feet into his boots, laced them, and finished getting the rest of his attire on, all the while contemplating the scene he had just seen.

--

As Zack plunked down the stairs, he listened to Barret, who was giving instructions on what was happening next. "Our next target's the Sector 5 Reactor. Head for the station first. I'll fill you in on the train," he told Zack when the violet-eyed ex-SOLDIER had come into full view. He nodded and moved toward the exit, only to be stopped by Barret once again. "Yo! Zack!" Zack turned to him, raising an eyebrow in question. "Before the next mission, I got somethin' I wanna ask you!"

"Yeah?" Zack really wasn't in the mood for fighting with Barret today.

"I, uh, ……I don't really know how to use Materia!" Zack shot him an incredulous stare. "Just teach me how to use it!" With a sigh, Zack taught Barret everything he knew about Materia in the span of a minute or two.

"It wasn't that tough," Zack told him, grinning at the blank look he was receiving from the gunman.

"Shi……!" Barret veered off track with that sentence. "What's this? 'It wasn't that tough' crap? I'm clueless…" He thought for a second, before nodding to himself. "Well, you handle the Materia then!"

Tifa turned to Zack, her burgundy eyes looking just as tired as Zack felt. He knew she had been crying last night as well-he had heard her. "I'm going this time," even her voice was drained of energy and life. Zack gave her a slight nod, and Tifa turned to the little girl, Marlene. "Marlene, you watch over the store and Cloud while we're gone!" She faked a bright smile, but the four-year-old was too young to realize it.

"All right!! Good luck," she told them in that sweet, charming way all little girls had.

After making the trek to the train station and getting on it, they met up with Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie. As Barret ran in, the anger on his face scaring everyone, Jessie cast a cautious glance at Zack, who caught it and smiled at her. Jessie turned a startling shade of fuchsia and glanced away as Zack chuckled silently. Looks like someone had a little crush on him…

"YO!" Barret rudely interrupted everything. But he was Barret. It was his job. So we forgive him. Right? …No? Okay. Anyway, he continued. "Looks like this ain't no private car! So split up!!" he barked at AVALANCHE, and Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie quickly dispersed.

Only a lone Shinra Manager and the other three were in this car now, Tifa, Zack, and Barret.

"…hoodlums again," murmured the Manager. "God, don't I just have all the luck…" He shook his head and took a seat. Barret, thinking it was one of the other AVALANCHERS, ran toward the door leading to the next car.

"You say sumthin'?" he yelled into the other car. People jumped in their seats and turned to look at him with scared faces. Tifa's face met her palm with a sigh as Zack smiled and shook his head at Barret's childish antics. "I said, 'you say sumthin'?!" Suddenly, the other car completely emptied as people scurried into the next one, far away from the angry black man. "Yo, look at that!! It got empty all of a sudden."

"What's goin' on?" the Manager asked, and Barret whirled on him. The poor Manager's eyes widened. "DAMN!" he yelled in voluntarily. "I…It's empty because of…g-guys like you…" There was a click as Barret turned his gunarm on the man. "Y-Y-YIPES!!" The Manager jumped and fidgeted in his seat. Tifa looked up and Zack sighed, leaning against one of the poles. "You…You've seen the news, right? AVALANCHE says there'll be more bombings. Only devoted employees like me would go to Midgar on a day like today."

A fire flickered to life in Barret's eyes. "You workin' for Shinra?" he roared.

"I won't give into violence…" Zack's eyes flicked over to Tifa in amusement as she went to stop Barret, "and I'm not giving you my seat either!"

"Barret!!" Tifa exclaimed, grabbing his gunarm and pushing it away.

"Fuck!!" he yelled, before pointing at the manager. "You lucky fuck!" He went back to Zack as Tifa bowed in apology and followed Barret.

Zack's eyes were laughing as he grinned at Barret. "My, my, Barret. Such language," he chided, causing Barret to swear at him, too. Zack only laughed at Barret's childish antics again, before growing serious. "So, what are we gonna do now?"

Barret tossed him and incredulous look. "Shit! The hell you so calm about? You bustin' up my rhythm…"

--

__

"Could you stop…acting so calm?!" Genesis demanded of Sephiroth.

--

Zack was jerked from the brief memory due to the train jerking to life underneath their feet. "Seems like they just finished connecting the cars," Tifa sounded relieved. "We're finally leaving."

"So," Zack began again, "what's our next target?"

"Hah! Listen to Mr. Serious-about-his-work!" Barret taunted, but Zack didn't bite at this lure. All he did was flash a smile at Barret that screamed: I aim to please. "Awright… I'll tell ya! Jessie's probably already told you, but there's a security checkpoint at the top plate. It's an ID scan system checkin' all the trains."

"Which Shinra is very proud of," Tifa popped in. Zack knew this and acknowledged her with a nod, eyes still on Barret.

"We can't use our fake ID's anymore…" Barret told him.

Overhead there was a ding and the conductor's voice came through the speakers. "Good Morning, and welcome to Midgar lines," he greeted. "Arrival time at Sector 4 Station will be 11:45."

"That means we've got only three more minutes to the ID checkpoint," Zack mused.

"Alright, in three minutes, we're jumpin' off this train," Barret told them. "Got it?!" That was mostly directed at Zack, who didn't even flinch. They both nodded. Barret sat down in a row of seats, and Tifa went to a monitor, leaving Zack t his own devices. But before he could choose what to do, he noticed Tifa quickly beckoning to him.

"Zack, come over here!" she called, even though he was already walking to her. "Let's look at the Railway Map Monitor," she said when he stood beside her.

Smiling apologetically at her, he scratched the back of his head. "I've already seen this a while back," he told her.

Tifa smiled. "It's all right," she assured him. "Come a little closer." But before Zack could, the emergency light began to flash. "That's odd. Th ID Check Point was supposed to be further down, right Zack?" Tifa sounded slightly confused. Zack nodded, just as confused.

There was another ding as the conductor's voice returned through the speakers. "Type A Security Alert!! Unidentified passengers confirmed…" Tifa and Zack glanced at each other, alarmed. Barret shot to his feet. "A search of all cars will be conducted! Repeat!! Type A Security Alert!! Unidentified passengers confirmed… A search of all cars will be conducted!"

"What's happening?" Tifa questioned at the same time Barret yelled, "What's goin' on!!"

Jessie ran into their car, looking paranoid as she hopped from foot to foot. "We're in trouble," she said and they gave her wide-eyed looks, "I'll explain later. Hurry! Get to the next car!"

"Fuck!" Barret sword. "Someone blew it…"

Before more could be said, the conductor's voice returned. "Unidentified passengers located in Car #1! Preparing for Lock Down."

Barret began to usher Zack and Tifa toward the next car. "Let's go! Keep it up!" he yelled, and Tifa and Zack quickly found their footing and ran.

"Car #1 locked down. Upgrading to Level 2 warning."

From the other side of the car, Biggs beckoned. "Hurry!"

Beside him, Wedge looked frightened. "They're gonna lock the door, sir!"

Jessie looked frightened, her eyes trained on Zack the entire time. "Just run!" she advised. "Changing to Plan 2!"

"Unidentified passengers located in Car #2. Preparing for lock down." Zack, Tifa, and Barret quickly ran to Car #3. "Car #2 locked down. Upgrading to warning Level 3." Just like that, the alarm stopped. AVALANCHE breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright!" Zack cheered, pumping his fist in the air. "We're clear!!"

"Not yet," Jessie told him, effectively bringing down his high. "They're starting another check. If we're caught, we're done for!" Zack flinched at her and immediately remembered the last time he had been caught. It didn't end too well for him… "But don't worry," Jessie quickly assured him. "If we move up the train, car by car, we should get past it!"

The alarm went off again.

"Unidentified Passengers: Moving to front of Train. Currently tracking location." AVALANCHE, with Zack in the lead, ran to the next car. "Car #3 locked down. Upgrading to Level 4 warning." Quickly, they ran into the next and last car, though Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie seemed to be in disguise. "Car #4 locked down. Upgrading to maximum security alert!!"

"All right!!" Barret cheered, Zack joining in with him. "We made it!" As soon as they began to cheer, they stopped, and Barret turned to the other AVALANCHERs. "Yo!! This way!!" He beckoned to the open side door beside them. "Let's go!! We're gonna dive outta here!!"

During the commotion, Tifa managed to sidle up to Zack, and now she spoke with him. "…Scary…huh," she whispered, and he startled slightly, before laughing it off and turning to her.

"It's too late to be saying that now," he chided her playfully. But then his expression became one of curiosity. "Why'd you come along anyway?"

Tifa gave him a sidelong glance, smiling slyly. "Because…" Zack felt his face go a little hot under her stare and he ducked away. _Oh no,_ he thought. _Bad Zack. We'll have none of that._

"Hey you two!" Barret turned to Tifa and Zack. Upon seeing their faces, he sighed angrily. "There ain't no time for that!"

Zack and Tifa both blushed furiously before Tifa stepped forward. "Yeah!!" she declared, voice only slightly shaky. "I've made up my mind! Watch closely. I'll jump!!" Seconds later, Tifa jumped out of the train and rolled harmlessly to her feet. Barret stepped back and gave Zack a little shove toward the door. Over his shoulder, the black haired ex-SOLDIER tossed Barret a confused look.

"You don't care if I go first?" he questioned.

Barret's already large chest puffed out. "A leader always stays till the end," he declared, and Zack smiled at him. "Don't worry 'bout me, just go! Don't go getting' your spikey-ass hurt!" Zack's smile vanished. "It's only the beginnin' of the mission!" He turned to the other members and Zack took that as a subtle, 'jump-out-now-or-I'll-shove-you-out.'

He threw himself out of the train and landed on his hands and the balls of his feet. As he was about to stand, a large weight toppled him over as Barret landed on him. Red spots danced over Zack's vision as he fought to breath under the monstrosity of a person, but just as quickly as Barret landed on him, Barret was off him, and Zack could sit up and breathe. Moments later, Tifa met up with them. They were in the tunnels, currently.

He turned his attention the Barret as the 'leader' looked around, nodding appreciatively at Tifa and Zack. "Good. So far everything's going as planned. Better not let your guard down till we get to the Sector 5 Reactor. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie got everything ready for us. So MOVE it," he told them.

Zack nonchalantly pointed down the tunnel. "Well, the Reactor's just down this tunnel!" he declared.

They began to jog lightly down the tunnels, keeping pace with each other, no one losing breath, easily dispatching the tunnel dwelling monsters with a flick of the wrist. But before they went too much further, Zack stopped. "Does anyone have a Restore materia?" he asked the other two.

Checking her materia, Tifa shook her head. Barret seemed to find one, plus an All attached to it, and tossed both to Zack. Zack looked at it closely, but shook his head. "It's not Mastered."

"So? The hell do you need a Mastered one for?" Barret demanded as Zack tossed them back.

Unsheathing the Ultima Weapon from his back, Zack planted it in the ground. "All of my materia is Mastered from all of the time I spent using it in the academy. The Ultima Weapon has no Growth in it, therefore if you give me a non-Mastered materia, it'll never get Mastered in this weapon, no matter how much I use it." He slung the large sword back onto his back. "I want you to use it until it's Mastered, and I'll take it from there." Barret gave him a blank look and Zack sighed, shaking his head. "Ah, never mind. I can't put it any simpler than that." _At least, Angeal couldn't put it simpler than that for me. At least I understood what he was telling me, though,_ he thought with amusement.

It was only a few minutes of light jogging later that they came upon security beams blocking the way onward. "Those light beams are the Shinra security sensors," he explained to Barret and Tifa. "We can't go any further." But then, he noticed beside him a hole leading downward. Barret and Tifa seemed to notice it as well.

"That's one damn tiny hole," Barret exclaimed. He looked cautiously at Zack, who had his head cocked as he chewed his bottom lip, thinking about something. Barret had an idea of what the dark haired ex-SOLDIER was thinking. "You tellin' me to squeeze into that to get under the Plate?" Zack cast him an amused glance, and Barret's eyes widened in alarm. "No way! Yo, Zack, what're we gonna do?"

Zack turned to him, smiling brightly. "Go down," he answered simply.

Barret started to sputter and try to form a protest, and Zack stood there, still grinning, waiting patiently for the burly man to come up with a complete sentence. Finally, he did. "But, damn man, that thing gives me the chills," he muttered, having given up on arguing with Zack. It was futile to do so, anyway.

Tifa went down the hole feet first, easily sliding along, and Barret followed, then Zack. A few times, Barret got stuck, but a swift kick from Zack's boot sent him going again. They all managed to land safely outside the vent. They jogged lightly through the hallway, Zack picking up two partially hidden Ethers along the way. Grinning at his prize, he continued to Barret and Tifa and quickly followed them down the ladder leading farther in.

After going down a second ladder, they came to a large sprawling area. Zack took a few steps ahead of the group, crossing his arms and looking around curiously. Finally, he noticed yet another ladder leading downward, and a flash of auburn colored hair. "Jessie?" he murmured, before giving chase. Hearing Barret's heavy footsteps behind him, he knew his teammates were following him and grinned at their trust, even when he himself didn't know where to go.

After climbing fully down, they came across Jessie in her own look out station. Upon seeing them, she ran forward and gave a slight bow, continuously saying she was sorry and it was all her fault for working too hard on the ID and all of this extra stuff. Zack waved it all off with a brush of his hand and smiled at her, telling her that nothing was her fault and to not think that way. She blushed again and looked away, and Zack grinned at her even more, but stopped when he heard Tifa huff and turn away behind him.

Scratching his head sheepishly, Zack turned and continued to lead. Once again, they had to go down yet _another_ ladder, across some metal mesh and _up_ a ladder, before they found themselves at the top of a chute leading down to the Reactor's core. Tifa slid down first, followed by Barret, and then Zack, and they headed through the familiar areas to the core.

****

At the core…

Pain burst through Zack's head, not unlike when he had spoken to Angeal in the first Reactor. But this time it was worse, and he felt his legs give way, and Tifa calling out to him, and a cool hand brush his brow, but that could've just been his imagination…

--

__

A steady wind blew at a small overlook of Midgar. Crimson life stained the ground a tanned red, its dust flowing around the woman standing there. Tiffania put her arms behind her back and smiled thoughtfully in the direction of Midgar.

Beside her, there was a flash of a magenta color, followed by a silver one on her other side. She closed her violet eyes. "I'm waiting for you," she said, still smiling as two black feathers fell on either side of her. "I'll keep waiting…until you finally come back." Her hands fell away from each other as she opened her eyes and looked up; a white feather fell in front of her. She held out her hand, but not for the white one. Just behind it came a silver one. "Good luck. See you soon."

--

Zack blearily opened his eyes and shook his head as he tried to clear his vision. Standing over him was Barret, as Tifa kneeled beside him, hands fretting over his body, but unsure of what to do. They froze and fell into her lap when she noticed he was alive.

"Damn man," Barret sighed, putting his left hand on Tifa's shoulder. Tifa nodded and quickly stood up as Zack sat up, holding his head. "Get ahold of yourself!"

Zack gave him an apologetic smile and shrugged, fully standing with a little help from Tifa. "You all right?" she asked. Well, at least _she_ seemed to care about him.

Zack's eyes grew a little distant. "Tiff…"

"Mmm?" Tifa cocked her head curiously.

But Zack shook his head. "No…not……" He waved his hand. "Come on, let's hurry!" He held out his hand for the bomb, which Barret handed over. Zack went to the front of the core and hooked up the bomb. He nodded proudly as his work, before turning and running past Barret and Tifa, who quickly followed. Outside of the core, at the same area where Zack had been buried in the first Reactor when it exploded, Barret took the lead.

"This way!" He headed for the exit, but then came back out when a large number of SOLDIER Special Combatants ran in. Barret turned for the other way, but even more Special Combatants blocked off that way of escape. "Shinra soldiers?! SHIT!" Barret exclaimed. He looked at Zack. "What the hell's goin' on?"

Zack and Tifa joined Barret and Zack ground his teeth. "It's a trap!" he snarled uncharacteristically. Then, something caught his eye and he looked, only to see President Shinra walking out from where they had just come from.

Barret noticed him, too, and looked shocked. "Presi… President Shinra?" he asked in disbelief.

"Why is the President here?" Tifa asked Zack, and Barret looked at him suspiciously.

"I had nothing to do with this," he defended himself.

"Hmm…" President Shinra began to walk toward them, but stopped about halfway. The AVALANCHERS looked over at him. "So you must be that……what was it?"

"AVALANCHE!" Barret yelled at him as President Shinra merely flicked an imaginary speck of dust from his shoulder. "And don't ya forget it! And you're President Shinra, huh?"

Before the President spoke, Zack interrupted. "Long time no see, President."

The President looked up at him. "…Long time no see?" He thought for a moment. "Oh…you. You're the one who quit SOLDIER and joined AVALANCHE. I knew you'd been exposed to Mako, from the look in your eyes…" He trailed off, actually noticing that he was rambling. "Tell me, traitor, what was your name."

Zack grinned. "Zack Fair."

His name seemed to have no effect of the President. "Forgive me for asking, but I can't be expected to remember each person's name," the President informed the group. "Unless you become another Sephiroth. Yes, Sephiroth… He was brilliant. Perhaps too brilliant…"

Zack visibly winced. "Sephiroth?" He knew his voice shook, and he felt Tifa take his hand and give it a light squeeze before letting go.

"Don't give a damn 'bout none of that!" Barret declared, still enraged at the President's nonchalance when it came to them. "This place's goin' up with a big BANG soon! Serves y'all right!"

President Shinra sighed. "And such a waste of good fireworks, just to get rid of vermin like you…"

At this, Barret exploded. "VERMIN?!" he demanded loudly, the walls echoing with his voice. "That's all you can say…VERMIN! Y'all Shinra're the VERMIN, killing the planet! And that makes you King VERMIN! So shu'up jackass!"

President Shinra sighed again, a bored look on his face as he wiped at yet another imaginary speck of dust on his shoulder. "…You are beginning to bore me," he told them. "I'm a very busy man, so if you'll exuse me…I have a dinner I must attend."

"Dinner?!" Barret was exasperated. "Don't gimme that! I ain't even start wit' you yet!"

"But I've made arrangements for a playmate for you all." The President sounded extremely fake disappointed as a large red robot began to approach them.

Tifa had a confused look on her face as she looked around for the source of the noise. "What's that noise?" she asked.

The robot suddenly attacked Barret, who jumped back in surprise. "The hell is this?!" he demanded.

"Meet 'Airbuster', a techno-soldier," President Shinra introduced. "Our Weapon Development Department created him. I'm sure the data he'll extract from your dead bodies will be of great use to us in future experiments."

Zack gave him a quizzical look. "Techno-soldier?" he questioned.

The president was ready to take his leave. "Now then, if you'll excuse me," he told them. He snapped his fingers as a helicopter lowered and a ladder fell from it. He reached forward and grasped the bottom of it. Zack ran forward, but didn't know what to say to stop them.

"Wait, President!" he yelled, to no avail as the helicopter took off. Zack dropped his hand and sighed.

"Yo, Zack!" called Barret, startling him out of his down. He noticed all that was left were them and Airbuster; the Special Combatants had left sometime during their conversation with the President. "We've gotta do somethin' 'bout him!"

Tifa stumbled back as Airbuster advanced on them. "Help, Zack!" she cried as they were cornered by Airbuster. "THIS is from SOLDIER?"

"No way!" Zack denied, unsheathing Ultima and surrounding Airbuster by stepping up behind him. "It's just a machine."

"I don't care what it is!!" Barret declared, getting his gun arm ready for battle. "I'm gonna bust him up!"

****

One Big Shot and Bolt2 Later…

Airbuster exploded, and Zack was once again hit with the full bast. The metal mesh beneath him gave away and he managed to catch a piece of debris, thus temporarily stopping his fall to death.

"Zack!" Tifa cried, reaching to him from her spot on the edge of the other side. She was a good four or five arm lengths away from him, so she couldn't reach him no matter how hard she could try.

"It's gonna blow!" Barret yelled. "Let's go, Tifa!" He took her arm and attempted to pull her away, but she was anchored to the spot. She snatched her hand back and called out to Zack again, before turning fearful burgundy eyes to Barret.

"Barret! Can't you do something?" she cried, hope in her voice that maybe, _maybe_ he could do something.

But Barret shook his head sadly. "Not a damn thing," he told her softly.

Tifa turned back to Zack, who was trying to pull himself up onto the metal mesh, but having no success. "Zack! Please don't die!" she called to him. "You can't die! Cloud needs you!"

"I know, I know!" he yelled, and stopped when the debris sagged and there was a groan.

"Hey, you gonna be awright?" Barret called to him.

"I don't know if I can hold on," he informed them. His violet eyes flashed at them and he smiled at Tifa in a reassuring way, he hoped. Then he turned his eyes back to Barret. "Barret…take care of Cloud and Tifa for me! I'll find my way back!"

Barret slowly held up his left hand in a farewell gesture. "Alright then, later," he told Zack.

Right then, the Reactor exploded.

The debris groaned and broke in two beneath Zack, who quickly grabbed the Ultima that he had dropped before falling hard and fast toward the building below. Tifa screamed, reaching down for Zack, but Barret drew her away and they ran out.

Sometime on the trip down, Zack fell unconscious.

--

End: Well, everyone knows who Cloud runs into after his little fall off Reactor 5. Will Zack run into her as well? Or will it be someone else? Oh, and if anyone can guess whose feather the silver one was gets a treat!

Once again, sorry for the long update. I hope 11 pages worth of story makes up for it! R&R, and I'll get the next chapter going as fast as I can!


	5. Part I Chapter Four

Blind SOLDIER  
By BlueFox

Intro: Gah! I'm alive! Sorry this took so long…really long… I assure you, this time I wasn't procrastinating. THIS time I was under surveillance due to my parents. They don't like me being on fanfiction, though I can't see why… But they're out of state for a little while, so I managed to get on to update my stories and such.

I'm sure you all want to see if Zack ends up meeting with Aeris, right? Well…now you get to find out!

I apologize for the formatting of this chapter. For some reason, the Document Manager wants this chapter to be pretty much all centered. Sorry!

Disclaimer: I OWN FINAL FANTASY VII!! (lawyers suddenly appear in BlueFox's backyard, but she doesn't pay any attention) …Did you really believe me? If not, then guess what? YOU'RE SMART! This was a complete space-filler! Now, on with the story! (lawyers go home, grumbling)

Currently Listening to: Crisis Core and Final Fantasy 7 and 8 music.

Part I  
Chapter Three

_"There's just too much that time cannot erase…"_

"Ugh…" Zack moaned. "My head."

__

"Geez, you're worse off than last time."

His brows furrowed. "What do you mean by that?!"

__

"What about now? Can you get up?"

Zack groaned. "I don't understand a word you're saying…" There was a stab of pain through his head, and a brief flash of a lightning bolt against his eyelids. "When's my head going to stop pounding?"

__

"Don't worry about me. You just worry about yourself now, understand?"

"But what about Cloud?" Zack questioned.

"So you ARE alive!"

"I recognize that voice…" Zack couldn't place a name or a face. Maybe if he opened his eyes…

"Anybody home?"

But instead, Zack addressed the other person. "Hey…Who are you?"

He didn't get an answer as he felt someone poke his side. "Wake up!" He was poked again, this time harder, and his eyes lids flew open to a familiar face. A red braid danced over his face as she bent over him, smiling brightly. "Well, this sure is an odd way to meet up again," Tiffania greeted. "After I told you not to come to Aeris' church, you come crashing through the roof." She sighed and shook her head in a teasing way at him.

Zack gave her a sheepish grin. "I did it again?" he asked her, cheeks tinting a slight red from embarrassment.

Tiffania glanced upward, still smiling. "The roof and the flowerbed must have broken your fall." She looked back down at him. "You're lucky."

Zack looked up, too, and saw a completely new hole over them. "So I made a new hole…" He sighed, closing his eyes. "Aeris isn't going to like that." Tiffania stood a second before he did. He brushed himself off quickly, and shook his spikes to get rid of whatever dust probably coated them. When he looked at Tiffania again, she had her hands on her hips and an amused expression on her face.

"Well, you're just lucky she isn't here," she told him.

Zack's shoulders slumped slightly. "Where is she?" he asked.

"I told her about Cloud and off she went," Tiffania waved a hand absently toward the door, "leaving me to babysit this place."

With that, Tiffania stepped around Zack and bent down by the flowers. He watched as she placed her hands on the loamy soil beneath their feet, and as a green river of energy flowed from her fingertips into the ground. The flowers that he had crushed beneath his body mended their stems, grew new petals, and stood up again. He rose his eyebrows. Was that…the Lifestream?

"Zack…" Tiffania began, opening her eyes and looking at him. She lifted her hands and the river of green energy disappeared. He shook his head slightly, coming back to earth, and turned his eyes to hers, giving her his attention. "Do you remember how I found you?"

"Yeah," he answered almost automatically. "I was buried under the largest pile of Reactor debris. You said you worked for three days getting it off me."

She smiled and stood, clapping the loose dirt from her hands. "Yep," she told him cheerfully, "you had a dislocated and broken arm that I fixed! You know, this time, your neck was twisted and two of the discs in you lower back had popped out of place. I fixed those, too, and you didn't move an inch until I was done." She paused at Zack's wide eyes and waved it away nonchalantly. "Hey, do you have any materia?"

Blinking at the sudden change of subject, Zack held out his arm, showing her his Mystile and all of its Mastered materia. She took a close look at them (HP Plus-MP Plus, Knights of the Round-First Strike, Final Attack-Revive) and smiled again.

"Nowadays you can find materia anywhere," he told her, withdrawing his hand.

"I don't doubt it," she agreed. "However, did you know that three types of materia are special and do absolutely nothing?" She giggled at his confused look. "Aeris and I both have one."

He shook his head, disbelieving. "Nah…every materia has its use. Maybe you don't know how to use it."

She shook her head now, disagreeing. "No, I do," she informed him. "Mine just doesn't do anything, though. All I know is that when I find my 'Knight' or whatever, it'll react."

"Really?" he asked her, and she nodded. "Interesting." He watched Tiffania went to one of the front, undestroyed pews and sat on it. "You know, I like talking to you. We should do more of it."

She giggled and held up one finger. "Wait a sec," she told him. "I've got to check Aeris' flowers." She slid out of the pew and onto her knees. "It'll be just a minute." As she checked each and every one through her green river of energy thing, Zack began to get impatient. After a few seconds, he crossed his arms and tapped his foot continuously. She opened one eye, looked at his foot, then up at him and regarded him with a smile. "Just a little longer," she assured him. About a minute later, she rocked back on her heels, then stood. "Now that you mention it…we may know each other's names…but what we actually do? I'm the best female agent of AVALANCHE, but before that I was general of the Special Unit SOLDIERs."

Zack gave her a strange look. "Special Units?" he asked, racking his brain for answers. "Weren't they the assassins and whatnot?"

"Yep."

Now he was even more confused. "Why'd you leave?"

Her face darkened and she found the floor to have taken in some keen interest. "I dunno," she answered honestly, voice soft. "I just felt…compelled to." She looked back up, eyes curious, face still dark. "And what do you do?"

Deciding to cheer her up, he puffed out his chest and hit it with the side of his fist, smiling proudly. "I do a little bit of everything."

A smile tried to tug at the side of her mouth. "So…you're a jack of all trades?"

"Yeah, I do whatever's needed," he told her as she started to giggle. Moments later, she was still giggling. Failing to see what was so funny, he cocked his head at her. "What's so funny? What are you laughing at?"

"S-Sorry…" she apologized, taking a deep breath to regain herself. "I can just be so spacey at times…" Suddenly, she stood up and spun around as another familiar redhead entered the church. Standing beside Zack, she tapped his wrist quickly. "Say, Zack. Have you ever been a bodyguard? You DO do everything, right?" she whispered to him.

"Well, yeah," he answered back, just as softly. They both watched as Reno made his way slowly toward them, as if not even seeing them. Behind him were three Shinra MPs.

"Then, get me out of here," she told him, not even moving her lips. "Take me to Aeris' house."

He glanced at her sidelong. "I thought you were a General?" he asked her.

"Yes, but everyone gets beaten once in awhile," she murmured, swallowing. "You never know."

Zack took a few steps up and his movement seemed to catch Reno's attention. "Reno," he greeted. "Long time, no see."

"Reno!" questioned an MP. "Want him taken out?"

"I haven't decided yet," Reno answered, barely spending a glance at the MP or Zack-his eyes were completely on Tiffania, who shifted under his gaze.

She noticed Zack's Mystile was glowing-more importantly the Knights of the Round was glowing. Immediately, she snapped into action. She grabbed his armored arm and hugged it tightly her eyes flashing defiantly at him. "Don't fight here!" she told him. "You'll ruin Aeris' flowers!" She nodded behind her. "The exit is back there."

After a second of hesitance, Zack took his hand out of her grip, took her hand, and ran for the exit behind them. When they disappeared, Reno walked forward and onto the flowers. "They both have……Mako violet eyes," he muttered. "Yeah, all right." He turned to the MPs. "Back to work, back to work." He turned and continued walking, but suddenly stopped. "Oh! And don't step on the flowers……" He walked off after Tiffania and Zack.

In a chorus of voices, the three MPs said, "Hey Reno, you just stepped on them!" and "They're all ruined!" and my favorite, "You're gonna catch holy hell!"

****

With Tiffania and Zack…

Still holding her hand, Zack raced up higher to the second floor of the back of the church. They seemed to be getting away, when a voice froze them.

"There they are, over there!" Reno called as he ran in.

Instantly, Zack felt Tiffania tense up and her steps falter. He stopped and glanced back at her to see her eyes wide and glazed over, shaking slightly. She seemed afraid of something, and he didn't know. All Zack did was draw her securely against his chest. "Zack…that one!" she murmured, but Zack had no idea what she was talking about.

"Looks like they aren't going to let us go," he whispered to her.

She lifted her head up and looked at him. "What should we do?" she asked him softly.

He flashed a bright smile down on her. "Well, we can't let them catch us, can we?" he asked her, and saw a flash of light in her eyes and her lips quirked upward just a bit. Zack let go of her. "There's only one thing left." She numbly watched as he took a large leap over the large gap to the next side. He turned back to her and beckoned to her. "Tiff! This way!" looking around, she shook her head and took a step backward.

"The General is getting away!" yelled Reno. "Attack! Attack! Attack!" Gunshots rang out as the MPs shot at Tiffania. One stray bullet hit her sword that she had sheathed and knocked it off. It hit the floor behind her before going over the edge. Emitting a startled cry, she lunged for it and grabbed it, but her momentum was too much and she went over the edge.

"Tiff!" Zack called, stretching a hand out uselessly for her.

"Think we killed her?" Reno consulted the MPs.

"They shouldn't have put up a fight, I say!" one MP declared.

Zack didn't pay attention to them. Instead, he kept an eye on Tiffania, who had fallen pretty far down. Slowly, she pushed herself up into a sitting position, shaking her head, before glancing around her and then looking up at Zack. "I could use some help!" she called to him, and Zack sighed, relieved. But then he noticed an MP going for her, and by looking more closely at her, he noticed her ankle was twisted in a funny way.

"Damn!" he swore, looking around for something to help him save Tiffania. Just above him, he noticed the corner of what seemed to be a barrel. "What's that?" Glancing down quickly at Tiffania, who was managing to scoot away from the MP, he charged up the stairs and knocked a barrel down at the MP. The barrel knocked the MP over, bounced off him, over Tiffania, and shattered against the church wall.

Shakily, Tiffania stood, putting as little weight as she could on her twisted ankle. She smiled up at Zack "Thanks." He watched closely as she made her way up the stairs, only to have another MP come at her. With lightning fast reflexes, he sent another barrel down at the MP, squashing him. Tiffania dodged out of the way of the rolling barrel and watched as it rolled down the steps she had just come up from and hit the reawakening MP that had tried to get at her the first time. He fell over, knocked out. "Thanks," she called up to Zack again. The same thing happened one more time, before Zack ran down to catch her as she jumped across the gap.

"How's your ankle?" he asked.

"I think it's okay, now."

Zack sighed, taking her hand in his. "Good," he told her. "Now, let's go. This way."

They climbed out onto the roof of the church, where Zack let go of Tiffania's hand as she stretched, smiling. "So they're looking for me again," she murmured, but Zack's hearing caught it just after it left her mouth.

"What do you mean by that?"

Dropping her arms, she walked over to the Ultima Weapon, which hadn't gone completely through the roof, pulled it out, and tossed it to him. She replaced her own sword on her belt, hesitated, then turned to him. "It's always either me-for running from SOLDIER-or Aeris-for being an Ancient," she told him, slowly.

Zack understood and didn't press the matter further as he saw Tiffania turn her head and stare off into the distance, a glazed look coming over her eyes. "They're the Turks," he told her, even though he was sure she knew.

"Hmmm……?" She snapped back to reality and looked at him curiously.

He pointed down the hole that led back into the church. "The Turks are an organization in Shinra," he told her. "They scout for possible candidates for SOLDIER."

Tiffania looked a little taken aback. "This violently? I thought they were kidnapping someone," she muttered, looking back down at the hole.

Zack crossed his arms. "They're also involved in a lot of dirty stuff on the side," he continued, looking a little disgusted. "Spying, murder…you know."

Tiffania's eyes flicked over the edge as Reno appeared from the front of the church, his MP comrades sporting numerous bruises from Zack's impeccable aim with barrels. "They look like it," she told him.

"But," Zack began, his brows furrowing, confused, "why're they after you? There must be a reason, right?"

She sighed. "It's probably because I ran away from SOLDIER when things went…awry in my department or something." She waved it away, but Zack was determined to keep on this subject just a little longer.

"Sounds like the situation I was in," he said, probably hoping she would divulge what had happened to her. No such luck.

"You turned out fine," she rebuked. "Either way, I don't want to be caught by HIM." She pointed at Reno, who was looking for them, but was too stupid to actually look up onto the roof for them.

Zack grinned. "Than let's go!" he declared, pointing to a path via other roofs. About halfway through the path, Tiffania stopped.

"Hey, let's take a break, hm?" She sat down as Zack tossed her a startled look. "After all, you said you wanted to talk more." She patted the spot next to her on the rooftop, and Zack obediently sat down. From the way things were getting tinted a soft orange near the edge, the sun was setting.

"Funny…" began Zack after a moment. "After I got my adrenaline going, I kinda forgot what I was going to talk to you about." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

She smiled. "Nah…it's okay," she assured him. There was a comfortable peace of silence that fell after that, and Tiffania began to rock back and forth, watching the sunset, mulling over her thoughts. Finally, she giggled and stood. "Well, I guess since neither of us have anything noteworthy to say, let's keep going." She extended a hand and he took it, using it to pull himself up. They continued their trip along the rooftops, until they finally jumped down into the mostly deserted streets. "Where! Finally made it off!" She looked around a bit. "Now what…" She turned to Zack, who gave her a curious look. "You remember which way Aeris' house is, right?" He nodded and she beamed at him. "Then lead the way!"

****

After Making it to Aeris' House…

Tiffania opened the door, and the wonderful smell of home cooking flowed into hers and Zack's noses. They both sniffed and sighed happily, eyes closed. "I'm back, Elmyra!" Tiffania called as she hung up her sword and motioned for Zack to put his against the wall, which he did. A woman with her brown hair in a bun and in a green dress with a white apron over it walked to the hallway. She smiled at Tiffania, and then turned her eyes to Zack, who smiled at her. "I'm sure you remember Zack?"

"Zack?" She seemed slightly confused, before a flicker of recognition sparked to life in her eyes. She stepped forward and hugged him like any mother would to their child. "Well, it's been quite a while, hasn't it?" She looked him up and down. "I must say you've changed quite a lot in five years. Are you all right?"

"He's perfectly fine, Elmyra," Tiffania piped up, and Elmyra turned and hugged her as well.

"Well, that's good," she said, smiling warmly at them both.

"Man, what smells so good?" he asked, sniffing the air again with a look of heaven on his face.

"Dinner, that's what," Elmyra told him as he closed his eyes, smiling again. She turned back and headed to the kitchen to continue to prepare the dinner. Tiffania turned to Zack and nudged him to get his attention.

"So what are you going to do now?" she asked him when she was sure she had his full attention.

Regretfully, Zack glanced at the kitchen, then at the door. "I have to go check up on Cloud," he informed her.

Tiffania's face grew serious as she looked at the floor. "Cloud…"

"Yeah." Zack looked at the floor, too.

Suddenly, she cleared her throat. "Hrm…" She coughed slightly, before shaking her head and coughing a bit more.

"What is it?" Zack looked at her, concerned.

She managed to stop coughing and gave him a surprised look. "Huh?" She realized that he was giving her a concerned look. "Oh! Nothing, nothing."

Now he was confused (my, that happens a lot with him, doesn't it?). "Nothing?"

She smiled. "That's right! Nothing!" She coughed slightly again, putting her hand over her mouth. He reached out to her, but froze when her body went rigid.

"Tiff…?"

She turned back to him, still smiling as she discreetly put her hands in her pockets. "How about we go to check up on Cloud together?" she asked brightly.

He dropped his hands, suddenly worried for her. What made her cough? And he noticed there was something on her hands as she hid them away-something red. Blood? "I don't know," he murmured, and when she gave him a curious look, he decided to not voice his concerns. He decided to see if she really was all right by playing with her. Slyly, he smiled. "Getting help from a girl…"

Her eyes flared to life as she drew her hands from her pockets. They were fisted up, so he couldn't tell if blood was on them. She stomped her foot. "A girl!!" she exclaimed. "What do you mean by that?! You expect me to just sit by and listen, after hearing you say something like that?!" She spread her arms out in disbelief, before going to the kitchen. Zack followed. "Elmyra," she began. "I'm taking Zack to Tifa's. I'll be back in awhile."

Elmyra gave Tiffania a worried look. Zack had a feeling she had heard the coughing, too. "But dear…" Tiffania's eyes flashed, determined to stand her ground. Elmyra sighed softly. "I give up. You never listen once you've made up your mind." Tiffania smiled, triumphant. "But if you must go, why don't you go tomorrow? It's getting late now, and dinner is almost ready."

It was Tiffania's turn to sigh. "Yeah, you're right."

Elmyra smiled at her. "Tiffania, please go and make the beds," she told Tiffania. As Tiffania went to do that, Zack made to go after her, but Elmyra stopped him. "Zack, would you please set the table for three?"

****

After a Wonderful Dinner…

Zack ascended the stairs, yawning widely. Just as he turned toward the hall, he saw Tiffania emerge from the guest room opposite what was usually his. She looked a little pale, and his brows furrowed in worry again as she approached him. But she stopped before him and smiled brightly. "You need to go through Sector 6 to get to Sector 7," she told him, though he already knew. "Sector 6 is a little dangerous right now, so you'd better get some rest tonight." She paused, closing her eyes for longer than a minute. When she seemed about ready to collapse, Zack braced himself to catch her. But then she opened her eyes and dodged around him. "Zack… Good night." For some reason, her voice sounded pained.

He turned and watched her descend down the stairs, looking, for all it's worth, like a red haired ghost. "Oh, man…" he murmured.

That night, Zack fell asleep uneasy, and worry for his newest friend clouded all of his dreams, as well as the worry for Cloud's well being.

--

End: Wow, oh wow, we've finally come across a chapter that isn't longer than 10 pages! I'm shocked! And now, to clear up a few things:

The Special Unit SOLDIERs are all my creation. They're like Deep Ground, you know? Hidden, and only the higher ups of SOLDIER know about them. They are an all female faction of SOLDIERs. More about them will be explained later on.

Well, no one guessed right as to who had the silver feather. Golden Girl guessed it was Angeal, but he has white wings last I checked, so the white feather was his. Now if it wasn't Sephiroth or Genesis or Angeal, who could it be…?

As for Tiffania's condition, that'll be explained later on, as well. And yes, this is a very, very, very, VERY slight crossover with FF8. Seeing as Tiffania needs a "Knight" that implies that she's a Sorceress. But who, exactly, is her Knight? Think hard now… And no, it's not another OC or Zack…but he is connected to Zack…

Oh, and a heads up! Guess what the next chapter is? Yes, it's a long one. It's…THE WALL MARKET CHAPTER!! Bwahahahahahahahahahaha…suffer, Zack, SUFFER! And it's the end of Part I. So stay tuned!

Ahem. R&R please. See you all later!


	6. Part I Chapter Five

Blind SOLDIER  
By BlueFox

Intro: Last update for a REALLY long time. Parents are coming home tomorrow, so I'll be put under surveillance again. Sorry, so sorry. But hey, thought I'd give you 20 pages worth of Zack cross-dressing goodness to sate you over for awhile!

Armageddon Child, if you're reading this, I'm going to napalm your house! I know where you live! I will do it! (shakes fist angrily at AC) Can't believe you killed Fang off with cancer…though, I still haven't finished with The Riddlyr, it still ticks me off. Made me scream and run around the house screaming that cancer is out to kill all of my favorite characters…cause in Sunday Afternoon's, Zack was killed off via brain cancer, and I cried my heart out.

Ahem. Thanks for all of your reviews. I'm excited for this chapter, cause it's the Wall Market chapter! The one where Cloud had to dress up as a girl! But instead, it's Zack who is doing it! AHAHAHAHA!

Disclaimer: I can pray and beg and plead and write to the lawyers and producers all I want to, but I do not, and never will, own Final Fantasy VII or its characters. It's probably for the best, anyway. (sniffles)

Claimer: I own Tiffania.

Part I  
Chapter Five  
"_Nobody would miss me."_

That night, Zack fell asleep uneasy, and worry for his newest friend clouded all of his dreams, as well as the worry for Cloud's well being.

-.-.-

__

"You seem pretty tired. That's not like you."

"You again?" Zack sighed. "You don't know me."

_"Mmmmm…this is a soft bed, isn't it?"_

_Dodging around what I implied…_ Zack thought as he answered, "I guess."

_"Do you remember, Zack?"_

_-.-.-_

_It was dark and starry out on top of the Shinra building, far above the plate. A slight wind blew as Tiffania turned her face skyward, her eyes softening in pain. The door to the roof opened behind her and she didn't need to turn her head to know who it was._

_"Sephiroth," she greeted warmly. "What brings you up here?"_

_He dodged the question and asked one of his own. "So, you're going to run?"_

_She bent her head. "SOLDIER doesn't need me anymore," she informed him, shrugging slightly. "The least they could do is give chase."_

_Sephiroth crossed his arms, his platinum hair blowing majestically in the wind. "You know that they will."_

_Her fists clenched as tears filled her eyes. "And?" she demanded. "What do I care? They know I'm too much for them…too much for that sadistic bastard of a scientist."_

_"Nothing's too much for Hojo," her companion scoffed._

_A bitter smile crossed her lips. "Yeah, that's what you say." She wiped her eyes as she turned to him. "I'm too much, even for you."_

_"That's a lie." He shook his head._

_Her shoulders shook from silent laughter as she spoke. "Yeah, whatever." She waved it off. "All I know is that I don't want to be what they want me to be. I don't want to know what I do. But I'm not sharing it. I'm taking that knowledge with me."_

_Sephiroth took one step toward her. "Where, exactly?"_

_Tiffania spread her arms. "Anywhere. Wherever the wind takes me." She paused. "I don't…want Zack or Cloud to know about this, understand? Especially not Zack, no matter how high a rank he makes it."_

_"You could just stay," the silver haired man tried one last time._

_She gave him a small smile and shook her head before walking by him. "I can't. Besides." She cast him a parting glance over her shoulder. "No one would miss me." She headed through the doorway and down the steps._

_Sephiroth side, glancing back at the doorway. "That's not true," he whispered. "I would."_

_-.-.-_

Zack jerked awake, sitting up straight in the bed, fine beads of sweat forming on his forehead at what he had just seen. So, she had known Sephiroth…and apparently she had known him and Cloud as well. But then she learned something about herself that Shinra didn't want her to know.

And so she ran.

And suddenly, as if that dream was enough, he suddenly saw a flash of the Nibelheim Incident, and in it, he saw a flash of red hair, a woman, standing in front of him, Masamune shoved through her shoulder as he lay weakly on the Reactor floor, unable to continue to fight. _Tiffania…was there? But how? I don't understand! Wait…if she hadn't been there, would I have died then, killed by my best friend?_

Zack didn't want to know the answers to those questions as he glanced at the digital clock beside him. "6:13 AM," he read aloud, before swinging his feet out of bed and slipping on his boots. "I think I'll be fine by myself…"

Sneaking out of his room, he noticed that the door to Tiffania's bedroom was opened ever so slightly. Chancing a peek inside, he saw that she was peacefully asleep, undeterred by whatever had ailed her before. Smiling slightly, he backed away and dodged around the loose floorboard he had discovered when staying over one night, and softly yet quickly descended the stairs. Set by the door, he noticed, was a small parcel, and he picked it up to open outside-opening it inside would cause too much noise. He grabbed Ultima and placed it into the scabbard on his back before easing himself out of the house.

Once outside, he ducked over into the yellow garden Aeris so lovingly took care of and hiding within it, opened the parcel. Inside was a Potion, an Ether, and a Phoenix Down. Smiling, he put the three items into the small pack he had left in the house for so long-all of his other materias and essentials in it as well-and picked up the note that was carefully placed in the bottom.

_Zack,_

_It was very good to see you again after so long. Aeris has missed you quite a lot, but I'm glad she has found a way to move on and find friends and comfort in others._

_As for Tiffania, you've seen firsthand her 'condition.' I don't know what it is or if it is a danger to her life, but sometimes I just don't know. She's just as stubborn as Aeris, so I wouldn't be surprised if she follows you or heads you off as you try to sneak out. Either way, keep a close eye on her if she tags along. She likes to hide how she feels so to not worry the others around her-she's been around Aeris too much._

_Please, take care of yourself, and your friends as well. I hope we'll see each other again soon._

_Lovingly,_

_Elmyra_

Slowly, Zack folded up the paper and carefully placed it into his pocket. Tears stung his eyes for some reason, and as he reached up to wipe them, he was unaware of the figure who jumped out of a second story window and headed for the Sector 6 streets.

-.-.-

"You're up bright and early," greeted a cheery voice. Zack's violet eyes widened and he looked up from where he had been inspecting the dirt to see Tiffania standing in the entrance to what was left of Sector 6, arms crossed. She was smiling, and looking infinitely more better than she had before. Her skin was back to its off-white and tanned color, the color back in her cheeks, life back and vibrant in her eyes. She was wearing a new outfit as well, a simple gray silky looking cloak with black outlining the edges and down her shoulders, black leather gloves, a black turtleneck shirt with no sleeves (that Zack could see) with matching shorts, and knee-high black boots that reminded him greatly of Sephiroth's. Her red hair was up in her trademark twin braids, and her sword was at her side. All in all, it took all of Zack's willpower not to drool over her.

"Tiff, you should be back at Aeris', resting," he told her, trying to get her to reconsider as her own mako violet eyes flashed at him.

"Are you done?" she asked him. Zack sighed and gave a slight. "Good. She turned and pointed through the entrance. "You have to go through the slums in Sector 6 to get to Tifa's 7th Heaven. I'm going with you. Come on!" And with that, she walked in. Zack sighed again and followed.

(AN: For a picture of the outfit Tiff's wearing, you'd have to look in the Cardcaptor Sakura manga. It's the third volume of the first six, in 'Tea Time at Tomoyo's.' It might be in the anime, too, but I haven't seen the anime in so long… Eventually, I'll have a link in my profile, but not now.)

-.-.-

"The gate to Sector 7's in there." Tiffania pointed at the large gate on the other side of the familiar playground.

"I guess this is goodbye," he told her, and she gave him a backwards glance. The battles against the Hell Houses and Whole Eaters hadn't done much damage to her, but he could see the mako in her eyes flaring just a bit brighter-she was close to a Limit Break. And as curious as he was as to what her Limit Break would entail, he didn't want her to overexert herself too much. "You gonna be all right going back to Aeris' alone?"

With a sigh, she turned to him, her hands on her hips. "Uh uh, no way." She shook her head. "I'm quite capable of taking care of myself, Zack, so I'm going with you." Then, she murmured something softly that Zack had to strain to hear it. "So what if my vacation's cut a little short?"

He furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

She smiled brightly at him. "Nothing!" She walked further into the playground, and Zack followed, and they both stopped at the slide. Zack grinned, remembering how he had found Tseng hiding behind it, keeping an eye on both him and Aeris.

"Can't believe it's still here," the pair said at the same time, before glancing at each other.

"How did you know about this slide?" he asked.

"This was…where I first met him," she told him, a little hesitantly.

"Who's 'him'?" Zack was a little confused.

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter; he's dead now. He's been dead for almost a year." She took his hands and tugged him toward it before climbing up, Zack following. "This was also where I first saw you, with Aeris, and that little cart of flowers. I wanted to buy one, but I didn't know where I would keep it, so I didn't."

"But you eventually bought one, right?"

"How'd you know?" she asked, looking at him sidelong.

"You had it in your hair when I first met you. That bluebell, was it?"

She smiled, hugging her knees to her chest. "Yeah. So, Second in Command to Sephiroth, right?"

"Huh?"

"That's what you were, right?"

"Maybe. I never really paid attention to details like that. I was one of his best friends, though." Then he faltered a bit. "Hey…Tiff? How did you know Sephiroth?"

Her back straightened and she turned her head away. "It doesn't really matter, I've left my past with him behind, after what he did…"

Zack opened his mouth to apologize to her for bringing it up, but then the gate to Sector 7 groaned and opened, and the pair momentarily forgot that they were having a conversation with each other to watch the chocobo-drawn cart come out and head for Wall Market just down the other road. And in the back of the cart was…

"Huh?" Zack stood up, watching with wide eyes. "Hey, back there." He pointed. "Tifa? Aeris?!" Aeris, in a red dress with her hair in a flowing ponytail and Tifa in a bluish-turquoise outfit looked up when they heard their names called. Aeris' eyes widened considerably at the sight of Zack, and she opened her mouth to say something, but they were already around the bend before she could say anything.

Tiffania stood up, watching the entrance to Wall Market with narrowed eyes. "Wall Market?" she mumbled, crossing her arms. "Now I know there's something there, but what…" Suddenly she gasped. "Oh God no…!" Before Zack could ask, Tiffania had already jumped down from the slide and ran for Wall Market.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Zack called after her, but she, too, was around the bend when he called it out. Zack vaulted over the edge of the slide and landed with a thump before running after the redhead. He was slightly winded when he came into the sprawling town of Wall Market and glanced around before seeing Tiffania disappeared into a throng of men far down the road to his right. Heaving a heavy sigh, he gave chase.

-.-.-

Tiffania managed to shove her way through the crowd, roughly shoving the red haired guy-Johnny, she thought his name was-rudely onto his butt as he dared touch her…erm, bust area… Pigs, the whole lot of them, she thought acidly as she approached a plump graying man in a red vest over a white shirt, and green pants. She conversed with him for a bit before bringing up the subject of Tifa and Aeris.

"Oh, them? They're our new girls," he informed her, his eyes trailing over her body lustfully for the fourth time. "They had to go get an interview with the Don at the head of the town. And, if you're interested, you could go, too. I'd be your first customer."

Tiffania smiled slightly and laughed a little nervously. Just then, a strong hand fell down upon her shoulder.

-.-.-

Zack walked up casually to the crowd as they all ogled Tiffania. He heard snippets of what they told each other.

"I got to touch her hair!"

"She's got some niiiiice thighs."

"I wouldn't mind being stung by her."

"Man, I got my hand on her boob!"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhh," they all moaned in unison, and Zack saw a few pee their pants. Or rather…ejaculated into them. He grimaced and shoved through them just in time to hear something about the fat man being Tiffania's first customer.

He walked forward and clamped his hand on her shoulder. With a light shriek, she spun and looked up at him, before sighing. "Oh, Zack, its just you," he mumbled, before taking his hand and walking through the crowd with him. When they were out of earshot, she turned to him. "Ol' fat man over there says that Tifa and Aeris have been taken to the Don's mansion about being interviewed for a job at that brothel known as the Honey Bee Inn." She pointed at the building where they just had been.

"What? Why would they do that? Especially Aeris…" Just the thought of Aeris being as low as a slut was enough to make Zack nauseous.

"I know where the Don's mansion is," she said to Zack, smiling a little. "So follow me, and try to not get lost, hm?" With a sly smile at Zack, she ran off.

"More running? Geez, she's never out of energy…" Zack muttered before giving chase. Luckily, her red hair was a flag through the throng of people that wandered the streets of Wall Market, but the further they got, the less people there were until there was barely anyone out, but huge piles of random garbage was out.

Tiffania slowed to a walk as they came to a large, brightly colored street that led to a mansion with a red haired man in front of it. Zack stepped in front of Tiffania before the man could notice her. When he saw Zack approaching, he scowled. "This is Don Corneo's mansion. He's a big shot here in Wall Market." He shook his head disgustedly at Zack. "Listen, the Don's not interested in men. So just get the hell outta here." That's when Tiffania stepped out from behind Zack. The man looked at her, and he licked his lips. "Hey, you got another cute one with you!"

Tiffania took Zack a few steps away and began to speak to him in a hushed whisper. "Hey, this looks like the Don's mansion," she approved. "I'll go take a look. I'll tell Tifa and Aeris about you."

She turned to go, but Zack grabbed her arm. "No!! You can't!!" he protested.

She tossed him a bemused glance over her shoulder. "Why?"

"You DO know…what kind of…place this is, don't you?" Zack told Tiffania, and she beamed at him slyly.

"Then what am I supposed to do?" she questioned him, glancing at Don Corneo's mansion entrance, then back to him. "You want to go in with me?"

Zack crossed his arms and shook his head, his brows furrowing as he tried to think of a plan. "Well being a man, that'll be pretty hard. Besides if I bust in there, it'll cause too much commotion. But, I just can't let you go in alone…" Tiffania's eyes lit up as she thought of an idea, and she began to giggle uncontrollably. "Oh, man…" He moaned. "First…we need to find out if Tifa and Aeris are alright…" Finally, he glanced at his red-haired companion. "What's so funny Tiffania?"

"Zack, why don't you dress up like a girl? It's the only way," she suggested, eyes bright with mirth as Zack's violet ones widened to the size of dinner plates.

"WHAT?!" he exclaimed, and his mouth dropped onto the ground with an audible THUNK!. Tiffania took that as a yes and turned to the guard.

"Just wait. I've got a cute friend I want to bring," she told him, and he nodded, smiling lecherously at her.

Zack grabbed Tiffania's arm. "Tiffania! I can't……" he weakly protested.

Smiling, she took his hand. "You are worried about the girls, aren't you?" Slowly he nodded. "Then come on, hurry!"

She took his hand and ran off for the main streets of Wall Market. Zack looked undeniably like a wet Black Chocobo, his eyes downcast and even his spikes drooped. Tiffania, however, seemed more excited than ever as she drew him inside of the clothing store. Looking around, she noticed a woman sitting behind the counter, reading a magazine and chewing some bubble gum, her feet propped up. She stepped up with a bounce in her step.

"Excuse me!" she began brightly, and the girl behind the counter lowered her magazine. "I'd like to get a dress."

The girl blew a bubble and it popped as she sighed. "It might take a little time. Will that be all right?"

Tiffania cocked her head. "What's the problem?"

The girl behind the counter sighed again. "Well, my father, the owner, has been in a slump lately," she began. "You see, he makes all the dresses."

"And, where is your father?"

She shrugged. "He's probably plastered at the bar."

"So…" Tiffania deduced. "You're saying we can't get a dress unless we do something about your father?"

"Yes, I'm sorry." The girl shook her head. "He's caused so much trouble. You'd help bring him back?"

"Well, if we don't do something, we don't get a dress, right?" Tiffania nodded, and the girl sat bolt upright behind the counter.

"Really?!" she exclaimed, elated. Tiffania nodded. "Please help my crazy old dad. I just don't know what to do anymore…"

"All right, we'll do something." Tiffania turned to Zack, who had been staring at the floor in hopes of living down this humiliation that Tiffania was subjecting him to. "Let's go, Zack!" Tiffania grabbed his hand and tugged him out of the building, but not before he let out a pitiful moan and the girl behind the counter hid a smile behind her hand.

The ex-SOLDIER allowed Tiffania to drag him over to the bar, and wouldn't you know it? the dress manager was sitting right by the entrance at a booth, scattered drawings of dresses all over the table and at least five empty beer bottles off to the side, the sixth one half full. Smiling, Tiffania scooted into the empty side of the booth and pulled Zack in beside her. The dress store manager slowly dragged up two bloodshot eyes to her, then to Zack, and then back.

"Excuse us," Tiffania began politely. "Are you the father of the girl at the Clothing Store?"

He nodded a little. "I own the Clothes shop…" he began, "but I ain't your father."

Tiffania gave him a 'sweatdrop' look. "I didn't say that…" she mumbled.

Zack sighed and gave the man a fierce stare. "Can you make me some clothes?" he asked in a deadly whisper, but the owner shook his head.

"I don't make men's clothes." He sighed and took a large swig of his sixth beer. "And I don't feel like makin' anything right now."

A waitress noticed the owner's new companions and straightened, getting ready to come over. Tiffania nudged Zack. "Why don't you go order us something from that pretty waitress over there so she doesn't have to waste her energy coming over to us?" she asked him sweetly. Zack gave her a vacant stare before getting up and walking over. Tiffania turned back to the Clothes Shop owner. "You know, sir, he always said that just once, he'd like to dress up like a girl." She giggled. "It's cute, don't you think? That's why I wanted a cute dress for him…"

The owner barked out a laugh. "What? A tough looking guy like that?" He snorted as if it was some great joke.

Tiffania beamed. "So, how 'bout it? Will you make him one?"

The owner scratched his chin for a moment. "…might be interesting," he admitted. "I was getting' a little bored just makin' regular clothes."

"Then you'll do it for us?" Tiffania leaned forward, wincing as the rancid smell of beer wafted to her nose. He sighed.

"Yeah, all right," he relented. "What kind of dress do you want?"

Tiffania scrutinized Zack as he flirted with the waitress. "Something… That feels soft. And something…that shimmers." She nodded, approving of her choices. The owner slammed a few hundred gil down as he stood and nodded.

"Got it," he told her as he moved to get out of the booth. Then he paused and told her as an afterthought, "Y'know I got a friend that has the same taste as him. I'll go talk to him." He then left the bar and Tiffania stood, stretched, and walked over to Zack. After managing to detach him away from the spunky blonde he had been talking to, she told him about getting a deal. They wandered about a few moments, before Tiffania pointed to a restaurant.

"I'm really hungry," she said to him. "Can we eat there?"

"Shouldn't we go and get that dress?" he asked her. She gave him a stunned look.

"Hello? Planet to Zack? Don't you know that it doesn't take 5 minutes to make a dress? Geez…" So, she ended up dragging him to the restaurant.

-.-.-

"What are we supposed to do with this?" Zack questioned, examining the coupon in his hand. Tiffania shrugged as they walked toward the Clothes Shop about an hour later. With a shrug, Zack crumpled it up and tossed it on the ground before walking inside of the shop behind Tiffania.

The owner brightened upon seeing them come in. "Oh, you're here," he said, a little excitedly. "It's ready. Go try it on." He gestured toward the dressing room as the woman handed him a purple silk dress. With a heavy sigh and a look that clearly stated to Tiffania, I'm-going-to-kill-you-the-next-time-we're-alone, he headed into the dressing room.

They waited a few minutes, before they heard a thump and Zack cried out, "How do you put this on?" Tiffania shook her head and walked over, moving the curtain slightly to get a quick look at Zack, who managed to get the dress on up to his waist, and was stuck from there. With a sigh, she came into the dressing room. Not noticing the pauldrons by the entrance, she tripped and went flying.

"Whoa!" she cried, and Zack turned at just the right time to catch her.

"What are you doing?" he demanded as a fiercely blushing Tiffania straightened and helped him finish putting on the dress. When it was done, he turned to her.

"Hmm…" Still red, Tiffania looked him up and down, refusing to meet his eyes. "It's still not right." Suddenly, she slammed her fist into her palm, realization written on her face. "A wig! That's what you need!" She turned and exited to dressing room, to find the girl behind the counter giggling and the man looking a bit awkward. Immediately, she knew what they were thinking, and shook her head vehemently, braids slapping at her arms. "Nononono! We weren't doing anything! I just helped him get his dress on, and now he needs a wig."

The owner's face managed to straighten. "I thought you might," he muttered, still feeling a bit awkward, "so I talked to my friend about getting one. You know the gym?" Tiffania nodded. "You'll find a lot of people there like you. Go and talk to them."

The curtain to the dressing room flew open as a slightly pink Zack walked out in his SOLDIER uniform. He turned incredulous eyes to Tiffania, who averted them by looking at her feet. " 'Like you'?" he asked. "Tiff, what did you tell him?"

She smiled brightly up at him. "Does it matter?" she asked, before her smile grew teasing at him. "Anywho, now we got a pretty dress!" She clapped happily as Zack's spikes drooped again. "To the gym! Away!" she declared, pointing toward the exit.

"Yeah. Whoo." Zack half-heartedly threw his fist into the air as his shoulders sagged. He drug his feet out after Tiffania as she took him to the deserted part of town and to the gym, pushing open the door. A small guy turned and came up to greet them. He looked Zack up and down with a critical eye.

"You the one……" He smirked. "Who wants to be cute?"

Zack didn't like the patronizing smile he was being given, and so he straightened, his violet eyes flashing harshly as he answered, "I prefer the term, 'pretty.' "

Tiffania patted his arm. "Right. And about the wig…"

The little guy waved it off as he came to the center of the gym, Zack and Tiffania following. "Yeah, I heard. But it'll cost ya."

A big muscular guy in an orange…um…thong (shudders) walked over and flexed his muscles at Tiffania, who turned away in absolute disgust (don'' blame her). He looked at Zack. "The only way you're gonna get cuter is if you can beat Big Bro!!"

"That's right!" agreed another man from a different corner of the gym.

"So, you've got to compete with us." Another muscular man in a blue…erm, thong (shivers) came over as he said this. Tiffania considered running out.

The little guy nodded. "You're right. Let's do squats."

The second guy walked over in red thong (gah! I can't take it! :runs out of room:). "All right! We'll beat you out of this gym!"

Zack looked at the little guy. "Are you…the beautiful Bro?"

"What? You didn't know?" He chuckeld a bit. "Always running around here sayin' Big Bro this, Big Bro that…" He shook his head and turned to the guy in orange. "You'll take him on. I'll explain the rules. Who ever as the most squats after 30 seconds gets the wig."

"Squats are my specialty," Zack bragged slightly.

The guy in orange flexed his muscles and a vein popped out on his forehead. "I'm not going to lose. Big Bro's wig is MINE!!"

"Just be quiet," Big Bro scolded. "You need practice?" This was directed at Zack.

"Like I said, squats are my specialty. I don't need parctice!"

"Right. Start!" After 30 seconds of doing squats, the muscular man was out of breath, and Zack wasn't even winded. "He had 9," Big Bro pointed at the big guy, "and you had 16. You're really something. Okay, I'm a man of my word, here you are." Big Bro went behind the counter in the gym and tossed Zack a black wig.

"Big Bro, I'm so mad, I'm so soooo mad!" the orange guy declared, and Big Bro punched the guy into the wall.

"Shut up!" yelled Big Bro. "Don't cry, just because you lost!"

The guy in orange groaned. "Bro's fists of steal cut to the bone!" he moaned. Zack noticed that Tiffania looked vaguely ill, and rushed her out of the building and to the more vibrant area of Wall Market, where they almost ran into a guy, muttering about how he couldn't make up his mind, and then shoved the Honey Bee Inn's Member card he owned at Zack. Zack took it hesitantly, and then got Tiffania a room at the Inn.

"I'll be back," he told her as she closed her eyes for a little cat nap. She gave him a little nod and he left the inn for the Honey Bee Inn. With slight fear clawing at his chest that Tiffania's little spell was part of her 'condition,' he trudged to the Honey Bee Inn, flashed his card at the man in front, and walked in.

A cute auburn haired woman bounced up to him in the traditional bee outfit, smiling brightly. "Poo," she muttered, looking him up and down. "Sir… Hurry…" Zack pointed to the first room he saw unlocked, 'The Group Room.'

"I'll take that one."

The bee nodded. "All right." She bounced up to it and Zack followed. "now all we have to do is enter the room." She looked at him. "You're not going to have a change of heart, are you?"

"No." His voice was tight as he thought about Tiffania.

The bee nodded. "All right, please." She unlocked and opened the door. "This way, please." She walked in behind him, closing the door behind her. "Shall we begin?" She glanced around. "I guess since you chose this room, that would mean you… Hate being lonely?"

Zack sighed, running a hand through his spiked hair, wondering why he was in there in the first place. "I really am not in the mood to talk right now."

The bee nodded and spoke into a small walkie talkie. "Come on, everyone."

Suddenly, the door burst open and a huge group of guys in thongs (BlueFox pukes) run in, chanting "One, two!! One, two!!" over and over. Zack jumped at the loud noise they made, looking effectively like a deer caught in the headlights of a truck about to splatter his remains all over the roadside. The chanting men continued to jog in place, all the while, giving Zack lustful looks. A small shiver ran up and down his spine. He wanted out. NOW.

"Wassup!!" the leader, Mukki (which rhyme with pukey) greeted.Oh man…

Zack internally moaned. I've heard about these guys. What should I do…? I'm not gay… (and all of the Clack and Z/S worshippers go "Suuuuure you aren't, Zack…") "I'm outta here." He shook his head. "I've got no time to mess around with you." He tried to get by, but they wouldn't let him. "Outta my way!"

Mukki clapped his hands onto Zack's shoulders, grinning broadly. "Don't be so enbarrassed! Loosen up, bubby!" he turned Zack to the large hot tub in the room. "Let's wash off all out sweat and dirt together!"

"Wassup!" yelled the other buys in unison.

Zack's voice was a high pitched squeak as he said, "I'd rather not."

And then, they all ambushed him. Zack put up a great fight, but in the end, he was stripped naked and thrown into the tub with the other guys. He managed to get himself in his own little secluded place away from the huge group of now naked men (man, do I feel bad for Zack… :pukes again:) and drew himself up into the tightest ball he could, keeping a wary eye on the men. "Isn't bathing great…?" asked Mukki passionately. "It soothes your heart." He opened his eyes and looked at Zack brightly. "How is it, bubby? Feels good, huh?"

There was a green tint to Zack's skin as he felt like throwing up right in the tub. He WAS NOT gay, dammit! "I feel queasy. Let me out." He made to stand, but then thought of the view he'd be giving the other men, and shuddered.

Mukki shrugged. "You'll get used to it. Try counting to ten."

"Ten…nine…" The bile rose in his throat, and he could almost taste it. It wasn't a pleasant feeling.

"Hey, bubby, how old are you?" Mukki asked.

"Eight…Twenty-three…"

Mukki pouted. "You're less than half my age."He shook his head. "I'm so jealous. So how 'bout it…? Do you wanna join my 'Youn Bubbies' group?"

"Seven…six… Not toe be rude of anything, but could you go do someone else?"

Mukki sighed, dejected. "Well, if that's how you feel…too bad. We have a trip planned at a cabin out in the country."

Zack ignored him. "Five…four…three…two…one…" He sighed happily. "Alright, that's ten. I'm getting' out." He moved to stand.

"Why don't you stick around and play a bit? Dady's so lonely…"

That was all it took to make Zack vault out of the tub without another word and put his clothes on before anyone could get erect about it. Before anything could be said, Zack shot like a bullet out of the room and all of the way to the Inn where Tiffania still was. When he got into their room, he saw that Tiffania was still asleep on the bed, and he decided to take a little nap, too.

But when he woke up in the evening hours later, he got a nasty surprise. Tiffania was standing over him, applying lipstick to his lips. "Whoa!" he yelled just as she capped it. "What the-?"

"You're gonna need makeup to get past the guy in the front," she told him. "While you were asleep, I also got you this stuff." She pointed to a small vial of Sexy Cologne, a diamond tiara, bikini briefsm and two small cantaloupes. He gave her a questioning look. "If you don't ask questions, I won't have to have answers," she bargained, and he left it at that. They collected their things and headed over to the Clothes Shop. Tiffania looked at him when they entered. "You going to change?"

He took a deep breath. "Okay…I'm ready." He nodded. He took the stuff out of Tiffania's hands and walked into the dressing room. A few moments later, he walked out and handed Tiffania the tiara with a sheepish look. She placed it on the wig in the perfect spot, and stepped back to admire Zack. The owner did, too.

"Hmm, not bad," he praised. "This may be a new business for me."

His daughter nodded, popping a bubble from her gum. "Yeah, you're right. Should we try it?" The owner nodded and she gave a slight squeal. "Thanks for showing us something new." Tiffania smiled and nodded. "My father's got his motivation back now, so the dress is on the house."

Tiffania giggled and skipped a circle around Zack, obviously having a grand old time. Zack tried to dodge away from her, but she made tsking noises and waggled a finger in front of his face. "Walk more nicely like…this." She began to walk like a lady, hands clasped in front of her, taking small measured steps, head bowed a little. Then she spun and smiled widely at Zack who gave it a try and pulled it off greatly. She giggled again. "Miss Zack."

Zack turned red. "Grr…I will get you for this, Tiffania." He went to cross his arms, but instead clasped his hands in front of him.

Tiffania clapped and jumped up and down. "Oh you're so cute, Miss Zack."

He gave her a swift glare as he disgusted picked at the dress. "I prefer the term 'pretty'!" he argued, and she laughed, before looking at the owner.

"I want one. Do you have one that'll look good on me, too?"

The girl ran over and pulle dout a vibrant green dress. "How's this?"

The owner pulled out a soft orange and cream one. "How about this one?"

The girl shook her head at her father, bracing her hands on her hips. "Father, what are you talking about? This one's much better." She gestured to the green one.

The owner shook his head. "No, what are you saying? This one," he insisted to Tiffania, holding out the orange and cream one.

But Tiffania's eye had been caught by a white outfit. She pulled it off the rack. "…I want this one."

"Huh?" the owner and his daughter questioned at the same time. Tiffania spun and headed for the dressing room.

"I'm going to go change." She turned and glanced at everyone. "No peeking!" She entered, and a few moments later, she came out in a beautiful white outfit (think Paine's White Mage outfit from FFX-2) and spun lightly for Zack. "So? How do I look?" Her eyes were sparkling as Zack merely blushed and looked away. "Sometimes you're no fun!" She playfully whacked him on the arm. "Well, let's go." They headed out with slight waves to their friends at the shop. On their way there, she noticed Zack's pack was bulging. "Could I put my clothes in there, too?" He nodded and handed her the pack and she managed to stuff her clothes into it before passing it back to Zack.

The man at the entrance saw the pair of them, and whistled, looking at Zack appreciatively. "Damn! Your friend's hot, too!" He whistled again and opened the door. "Come in, come in!!" He popped his head into the door. "Two ladies coming through!!" Zack and Tiffania walked into the mansion, and a man in a tuxedo that had seen better days greeted them with a smile.

"Hey, ladies," he said. "I'll go and let the Don know you're here. Wait here." He turned, then paused and looked at them. "Don't go wandering around…" He trailed off as he went through the door behind the desk.

Tiffania looked at Zack. "Now's our chance. Let's find Tifa and Aeris." Looking around, she was the first to notice the big open door on the top floor, and without a word to Zack, ran up the stairs. She heard Zack following as she ran to the doorway and down the stairs into the basement. It was a little dark in there, and so she called out, "Tifa? Aeris?" when she got to the bottom. A small light turned on and the three girls saw each other and joined in a group hug full of smiles. "Oh! It's so good to see you girls again!" tiffania smiled brightly as they all held hands in a ring. Zack stood by the stairs, just watching and picking at the dress.

"Zack was with you in the park, wasn't he?" Tifa asked, brushing a lock of her hair behind her ear. Tiffania nodded.

"Right, with Zack."

Aeris looked down. "Oh……" she murmured in understanding.

Tiffania squeezed her hand. "Oh, don't worry, Aeris, I wouldn't dream of stealing him from you, no matter how cute he is!" She smiled at Aeris, who gave her a smile in return. But then, Tiffania's eyes darkened a bit. "So…how's Cloud?"

Aeris bit her lip. "Well…I tried my best," she answered honestly. "But I've found out that if I take his blindness away, I'll take Zack away as well. My mother told me that. There's nothing in my power I can do."

Tiffania winced at the knowing look Aeris gave her and she bowed her head. "Poor Cloud…" But then she smiled again and let go of her friends' hands and waltzed over to Miss Zack and brought him over. "And poor Zack having to stand there and listen to us talk about Cloud without him. Right, Zack?"

Tifa and Aeris glanced at each other. "Zack?" they echoed, and then Aeris took a closer look, before gasping and throwing her arms around him.

"Zack!" she cried his name out, but it was muffled by his chest. He hugged her back and stayed like that for awhile before she stepped back, shakily wiping the tears that had collected in her eyes. "Why are you dressed like that?!" Zack opened his mouth to answer, but she interrupted him with another question. "And what are you doing here?!"

He opened his mouth to answer again, but this time Tifa interrupted him. "Forget that, what happened to you after the fall?!" she asked. "Are you hurt?!"

Zack put his hands up to stop them. "Hey you two, give me a chance to answer," he told them gently, and they backed down. "I'm dressed like this…because there was no other way to get in here," he answered Aeris' question first. "I'm all right. Tiff helped me out." He answered Tifa's question.

Tifa sighed, glancing at Tiffania a little jealously. "Oh, Tiff did…"

"Tifa, explain," Zack said. "What are you and Aeris doing in a place like this?"

Tifa put her hands behind her back. "Yeah, ummm…" She glanced at Tiffania.

"Right!" she declared, taking a few steps back and turning. "I'm on vacation. I'll just plus my ears!" She did just that.

Aeris hugged Zack again. "I'm so happy you're alive!" she whispered as he hugged her back and kissed the top of her head.

"Thanks," he mumbled into the mass of brown, before he looked at Tifa. "What happened?"

"When we got back from the Number 5 reactor, we met Aeris in my bar with Cloud. Not long later, a strange man showed up. So Barret caught him and squeezed some information out of him," she explained.

Aeris looked up. "That's when the Don's name popped up," she continued briefly.

Tifa nodded. "Don Corneo. Barret told me to leave the lech alone…" She shook her head. "But something's been bothering me."

Zack nodded. "Okay. Let me get this straight," he began. "You wanted to get the story straight from Corneo's mouth, right?"

Tifa nodded. "So Aeris came with me here, but now were in a bind. Corneo is looking for a bride. Every day he gets four girls, chooses one of them, and then…and well…" She gestured helplessly, and he nodded, understanding. "Anyway, either Aeris or I have to be the girl…or we're out for tonight."

Tiffania bounced over. "Sorry…" she apologized, "but I overheard…" She put her chin in hand as Zack gave her a suspicious look out of the corner of his eye. She snapped her fingers. "Hey, if you know the four girls, there's no problem, right?"

"Tiffania, you're on vacation," he reminded her.

"Oh?" She gave him a sour look. "But Aeris and Tifa get to do this?" Zack blinked at her and she gave him a withiring look. "As of now, I'm officially off vacation!"

Zack's face met his palm, his other arm still securely around Aeris. "Oh man…" he groaned.

Aeris gave Tiffania a worried look. "Is it all right?"

Tiffania grinned. "You know me, Aeris. Go hard or go home, you know?"

Aeris nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, Ms. Tiffania." She smiled playfully, and Tiffania got the joke.

"Hey now, never put a 'Ms.' in front of my name, you know that!"

They both giggled, but were then interrupted by the man from the front desk calling down the stairs at them, "Heeeey!! It's time ladies. The Don is waiting." Then he sighed and shook his head, muttering something under his breath.

As Tifa, Aeris, and Tiffania headed for the stairs, Zack sighed. "I probably don't need to ask, but the other girl is…me, right?"

Tifa smiled. "You're right…" she began.

Aeris nodded. "…there was no need…" she continued.

Tiffania giggled a bit. "…to ask." They all headed up the stairs and into the room closest to them, where a pudgy blond guy in red was sitting behind a desk, his beady little eyes watching them with interest.

"All right ladies!" announced Kotch. "Line up in front of the Don!" The four of them did just that. From left to rght, here's the order: Aeris, Tiffania, Zack, Tifa. The Don came out from behind his desk, admiring them all.

"Hmmm! Good, splendid!" He began to walk in front of them, scrutinzing each. "Now, let's see…which girl should I choose?" he stopped at Tiffania and stared at her long and good. She struggled to not fidget underneath his gaze. "Hmmmm hmmmmm!" He nodded at her, then looked at Aeris. "This one?" Aeris only swallowed a little nervously at his gaze. Corneo walked by Zack to Tifa. "Or this one?" Tifa stood tall and proud. Then Corneo walked in front of Zack. He attempted to look Zack in the eye, but Zack wouldn't let him; he just kept looking the other way. Corneo nodded. "Woooohoo!" he declared. "I've made up my mind!! My choice for tonight is……" His finger pointed straight at Zack, who's eyes widened considerably. "This healthy looking girl!"

Zack threw up his hands, utterly horrified at how these events had gone down. "Wa-wait a sec!" he yelled, before clearing his throat. "I mean, uh, please wait a moment." He hoped he sounded like a woman.

Corneo started to dance. "Woo-hoo! I love chickies who play hard-to-get! Yeowza!" He turned to Kotch. "You can have the other ones."

Kotch smiled real big. "Yes, sir! Thank you sir!" Kotch led Tifa, Tiffania, and Aeris to another room. Zack could only watch with dejected eyes. As if he hadn't already been through enough… Corneo purred to Zack.

"Well, then, shall we go, my pretty?" he asked Zack a little seductively. The bile was back in Zack's throat as he slowly followed Corneo into another room. When Corneo closed the door and jumped onto the bed, Zack was absolutely horrified to see a particularly big bulge in the front of Corneo's pants, and he almost felt like turning and screaming for the hills. "Ahh, we're finally alone…" Corneo mumbled. "All right, pussycat… Come to daddy!!" He started to hump the air, making Zack press closer to the wall. "You're so cute, I never get tired of looking atyou. Do you…like me, too?"

"Ummm…" Zack mumbled, averting his gaze from the other man, hoping it looked innocent. Corneo frowned.

"You don't like me?" He sighed, looking down. "There…there isn't someone else, is there?" he whispered.

"Yes, his name's…Cloud…" Oh God, forgive me…

Corneo looked up, shocked. "No way!" then he looked thoughtful. "Hmm? Cloud? That sounds familiar…"

Zack nodded. "You know, he's one of the ones you were trying to find out about. You know, AVALANCHE…?" It was a small little white lie, but Corneo wouldn't catch it-he wasn't smart enough.

Truth be told. "Oh, yeah, yeah," Corneo nodded, "in Sector 7 in the slums…" He suddenly paused and gave Zack an odd stare. "…and how do YOU know that?!" Zack ripped off the dress to reveal his SOLDIER uniform beneath. (You see, hid pack was stuffed with provisions, not his clothes, like Tiff thought.) Corneo's eyes widened extensively. "A man?!" he shrieked, scooting back in the bed. "You tricked me!! Somebody get in here NOW!!"

"Unfortunately, no one'll be comin to help," came a feminine and familiar voice as Tifa kicked open the door and she, Tiffania, and Aeris ran in in their normal clothes.

Corneo's eyes widened even more. "You're the ones from before!" he yelped, sweat breaking out on his face. "Wh…What the hell's going on?"

"Shut up," Tifa said warningly. "We're asking the questions now… What did your assistants find out?" Corneo clamped his mouth shut, and her eyes narrowed. "Talk! If you don't tell us…"

Zack braced his left leg on Corneo's bed, smiling evilly, his eyes dancing with dark humor. "…I'll chop them off."

Corneo jumped. "No!" he yelped. "Not that! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!"

Tifa smiled. "So…talk."

"… I made 'em find out where the man with the gun-arm was. But that's what I was ordered to do."

"By who?" demanded Tifa.

Corneo shook his head. "Noooo!" he moaned. "If I told you that, I'd be killed!"

Tifa clenched her fists. "Talk! If you don't tell us…"

Aeris and Tiffania braced their left legs on his bed, smiling evilly at him, eyes dancing just like Zack's were. "…We'll rip them off."

"Waaaaaaaaaaahhh!" he cried. "It was Heidegger of Shinra!"

Zack blinked, recognizing the name. "The head of Public Safety Maintenance?!" he exclaimed.

Tifa's eyes had widened a bit. "Did you say the Shinra?! What are they up to?!" Corneo said nothing. "Talk! If you don't tell us…" she braced her left leg on his bed, just like the others had, "…I'll smash them."

Corneo gave a shaky sigh and wiped his forehead. "…You're serious, aren't you…" They all nodded, and the girls cracked their knuckles for added effect as Zack reached for Ultima. "…ohboy, ohboy, ohboy. …I'm not fooling around here either, you know. Shinra's trying to crush a small rebel group called AVALANCHE, and want to infiltrate their hideout. And they're really going to crush them…literally, by breaking the support holding up the plate above them."

"Break the support?!" Zack was outraged.

"You know what's going to happen?" Corneo got this disgusting, 'I'll-have-the-last-laugh' look on his face. "The plate'll go PING and everything's gonna go BAMM!! I heard their hideout's in Sector 7 Slums…" He sighed. "I'm just glad it's nothere in Sector 6."

Tifa look horrified. "They're going to wipe out the Sector 7 Slums?!" She shook her head, before turning her burgundy eyes to Zack and Tiffania. "Zack, Tiffania, will you come with me to Sector 7?"

"Of course, Tifa," Zack said.

Tiffania grinned. "Will do!" she declared.

The four of them went for the door, but Corneo stopped them when they came to the edge of his bed. "Just a second!"

"Quiet!" ordered Zack, turning to him.

Corneo shook his head. "No wait, it'll only take a second. How do you think scum like me feels when they babble on about the truth?"

"They're sure they'll win?" asked Tiffania.

He nodded appreciatively. "Woo-hoo! Right!" With that, he hit the switch by his bed and a trapdoor opened beneath them, and they all fell into the sewers below as Corneo did a little dance.

-.-.-Meanwhile in Shinra Headquarters…

"How are the preparations going?" the President asked Heidegger.

Heidegger grabbed his bulging side as he laughed. "Ha, ha, ha! Smoothly, very smoothly!" he stated happily. "I assigned the Turks to this."

The only other man in the room, Reeve, looked uncertain. "President!!" he protested. "Are we really going to do this? Simply destroy a group with only a few members…"

The President raised a blond eyebrow, his mustache framing his frown. "What's the problem, Reeve? You want out?" he asked.

Reeve slowly shook his head. "…No. But, as head of the Urban Development Department, I have been involved in the building and running of Midgar. That's why…" he trailed off.

Heidegger shook his head. "Reeve, you should flush those personal problems in the morning!" he advised roughly.

"The Mayor's against this anyway…" Reeve muttered, looking at his shiny shoes and the shiny floor.

"Mayor?" asked Heidegger incredulously. "He just sits in this building all day feeding his face! You still call that a Mayor?" He shook his head. "Now, if you'll excuse me, sir!" Heidegger turned and went for the stairs.

Reeve turned to follow and took a few steps, but stopped and President Shinra stood. "You're tired. Why don't you take a couple of days off and go somewhere?" Reeve glanced back at him, before slowly heading for the other stairs leading down. When he was out of earshot, President Shinra put his hands behind his back. "We'll destroy Sector 7 and report that AVALANCHE did it. Then we'll send in the rescue operation care of Shinra, Inc. …Heh, heh, heh… This is perfect."

-.-.-

End: God, that was LONG! My fingers hurt from typing it up, because there was barely any action! Geez. Anyway, the next chapter is the beginning of Part II, so stay tuned! Hope you enjoyed this slightly amusing chapter! Awh! Poor Zacky! (hugs)

Zack: I'm getting sick of that name…

Cloud: R&R!


	7. Part II Chapter Six

Blind SOLDIER  
By BlueFox

**_DO NOT COPY MY STORIES!!_**

**If anyone wants to post my stories anywhere else, please just ASK and then give me credit for writing it. PM with any requests.**

Intro: Blearg, the sewers… Urrgh, I hate sewers and their nasty water with poop and toxic waste and mutated gerbils in them… Honestly? I think I've been watching too many cartoons lately… But yeah, this is the beginning of Part II, this chapter is what the strategy oh so eloquently puts as 'The Pillar Assault' which was what I would put for the title of the chapter if I did stuff like that for this fic. Oh, and yes, I know Aeris probably didn't do her victory pose at all during Crisis Core, but in this story, she has. So there. Nah. :sticks out tongue:

Oh, and did any of you catch that Kingdom Hearts II reference in the beginning of the last chapter? If you did…here's a plushie of your favorite character for you! :tosses out plushies of random Square-Enix characters at audience:

And one last thing. Whether Tiffania is a Mary Sue to you or a self-insert of me (which she isn't, TRUST ME) is up to you. I however, know she is neither of the two but a simple OC. Whether you choose to believe me is entirely up to you.

Disclaimer: Hmmm…do I own Final Fantasy VII? :opens wallet and watches moths fly out: Well, I think that answers THAT question…

Claimer: As much as I would like to, I don't have a snappy, smart-ass claimer thought up yet. We'll just leave it simple: I own Tiffania.

Part II  
Chapter Six

_"Assassination is the extreme form of censorship."_

Reeve turned to follow and took a few steps, but stopped and President Shinra stood. "You're tired. Why don't you take a couple of days off and go somewhere?" Reeve glanced back at him, before slowly heading for the other stairs leading down. When he was out of earshot, President Shinra put his hands behind his back. "We'll destroy Sector 7 and report that AVALANCHE did it. Then we'll send in the rescue operation care of Shinra, Inc. …Heh, heh, heh… This is perfect."

-.-.-

It was not the shaking of his shoulder that woke him up after he had been knocked out from the fall. Neither was it the urgent calling of his name by his ear. No… What hit him fast and strong was the complete stench of the place on which he had landed. Not only that, but the realization that something sticky was stuck to his face, and last he remembered, nobody was bleeding or had glue on them.

So upon realizing that he was in the sewers from the sound of the rushing water, he surged into a sitting position and collided foreheads with another. The overwhelming stench that was now surging into his poor fully awakened nose was enough to set off the gag reflex, and he began to dry hack as he rubbed nasty mold off of his cheek. A comforting hand rubbed his back and said, "Yeah, that happened to me, too, when I woke up."

Zack looked up to see Tiffania sporting a nice head spot on her forehead from where he'd caught her off guard. A pink dust tinted his cheeks as he managed to slowly grow used to the smell of the sewers. He was glad he hadn't ended up in the waters, and by the looks of it, neither had Tiffania. Glancing over, he saw that they were unusually shallow, about ankle high. And laying in the dreaded waters were both Tifa and Aeris. Zack grimaced, because now Tifa's white shirt would be stained with a nasty green color on the back, and Aeris' favorite dress was ruined. And both of the women's hair was going to be badly matted.

From his position on the ground above the waters, Zack watched as Tiffania walked into the waters, grimacing only a little before shaking Tifa. "You alright?" he called to her as Tiffania helped her up.

Tifa took a look at where they were the disheveled state everyone was in, and sighed, shaking her head. "Man! This is terrible," she moaned, examining her hair with a deep frown.

Tiffania went over to Aeris and woke her up next. As her emerald eyes flickered open, Zack felt immense relief. At first, when they had fallen, he had wondered if Aeris would've been able to take the fall. He was glad to put those worries to rest. "Aeris, are you alright?" he asked her, standing up and making sure all of his materia was in Ultima and thankful that Tiffania had the pack on one of her shoulders.

For a second, Aeris fretted, brushing off her skirt, her arms, combing through her bangs, and checking her braid for something before sighing with a smile on her face. "Yeah," she told him, and he grinned, remembering her do that once after helping him wake up in her church and again after the Angeal clone had protected them but then died. Zack's grin slipped for a bit upon thinking about Angeal, but he knew his friend was never too far away.

Tiffania sighed and stretched, grinning. "Well, the worst is over…" she trailed off upon hearing a roar from somewhere around the curve and a great sloshing noise as from around the corner came a huge alligator-looking monster that was pale blue in color and had chains on its forearms. The quartet took one look at it, and Tiffania dropped her arms. "Maybe not…" The monster known as Aps roared again, and Aeris and Zack both gagged as Tifa and Tiffania put their hands over their mouths and noses, though the result wasn't much better. Zack unsheathed Ultima, Aeris' Mythril Rod materialized, Tifa put up her fists, and Tiffania unsheathed her sword (description of it is at the bottom of the chapter).

Tiffania struck first. She dove in and slashed Aps' tummy, but she didn't get very far in because Aps swiped a large poop-encrusted claw at her. As she retreated, Zack jumped up and used the nasty claw for support, jumping even higher. "Fire2!" he yelled. Fire blasted from his hands, engulfing Aps' disgusting head in flames. Zack jumped off and rejoined the other three. Tifa went in next, the yellow-red aura of a Limit Break surrounding her. "Beat Rush," she whispered and sped at Aps, punching it all over the place, "Somersault," she said next, ending the show with a double kick while flipped.

She came back into position as Aeris cast a Fire spell. Aps then used a Sewer Tsunami and it came from behind them, drenching the team. A yellow-red aura surrounded Tiffania for her Limit Break and she ran forward and in a blinding speed had gone straight through Aps. There was a slight pause before she straightened and thirteen deep gashes suddenly broke out all over Aps, spewing nasty purple colored blood all over the place.

While Aps was weakened, Zack ran along its body, covered in purple blood, looking for the perfect place to strike after Tiffania's awe-inspiring Limit Break. He'd have to ask her what level it was, cause it sure did seem to be stronger than a Level One. Anyway, Zack finally decided to go for the legs and tail, and he took a deep breath in, then attacked the legs and tail, cutting them cleanly off and being met with a blast of the horrid purple blood splattered all over him. He staggered back, holding his neck and coughing, choking on the stench that the blood gave off.

Luckily, Aps summoned up another Sewer Tsunami that rinsed both Zack and it off, but lowered everyone to critical levels. Aeris' Limit Break was unleashed, a refreshing Healing Wind that brought everyone close to what they had started with. And then Zack's Limit Break came out, and he jumped up into the air and sliced through it, and four meteors flew from Ultima and crashed into Aps in the form of Meteorain. The final meteor of the four slammed Aps' dead body into the waters, which had risen due to all of the Tsunami attacks, and a huge splash of water smacked into them one more time.

"Yuck," Aeris moaned, staring at the nasty poop she had on her dress. Tifa visibly shuddered. Before they moved on, Zack used several Ice3 spells on them and then melted them with Fire3 to rinse them off. "The next chance we get, I want the first bath," Aeris declared.

"I get second," Tifa said.

"Guess I get third," said Zack, not looking at them, but looking for Tiffania. He didn't see her. He scratched his head and looked more closely around them as Aeris and Tifa had a private conversation with themselves.

"It's too late……" Tifa moaned. "Marlene…Barret…Cloud…the people of the Slums." She drooped her head.

Aeris put her hand on Tifa's shoulder. "Don't give up hope, never give up hope," she told the younger woman. "It's not easy to destroy the pillar, right?"

Tifa lifted her head and smiled a little at the flower girl. "Yeah…" she agreed. "You're right. We still have time."

That's when Zack interrupted, walking up to them. "Hey…has anyone seen Tiff?" he asked them while still glancing around.

Tifa and Aeris looked around, too, but they saw to hide nor hair of their red haired friend. Tifa's brows furrowed. "She was just here a second ago," she told them, but then realized Tiffania had disappeared shortly after using her Limit Break. Alarmed, her eyes widened. "You don't think her Limit Break would kill her, do you?" Zack and Aeris stared at her, and Zack shook his head vehemently.

"There's no such thing as a Limit Break that kills the user. At least, not dead-as-a-doornail dead. Maybe KO dead, but she'd still be here," he told the close to hyperventilating fightress, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Tifa met his gaze briefly before nodding and looking down.

Aeris nervously shifted on her feet. "Maybe she went on ahead?" The flower girl would never forgive herself if Tiffania was laying mortally wounded somewhere and she had never seen the wound to heal it. Zack gave her a stunning smile and nodded.

"That's exactly what I think," he agreed, and they moved onward.

Past the Toxic Waste

Zack shoved the manhole off the top of the sewers when they came to the first ladder they had found, and took a nice big lungful of semi-fresh air. (Being in Midgar, air was never purely fresh, unless you were at Aeris' house or the church. But after spending about thirty or so minutes in the sewers, you'd take any air that didn't stink as bad with gratitude. Trust me on that.) He climbed out of the manhole onto the solid ground above him and looked around, finding himself in the maze known as the Train Graveyard. Tifa and Aeris emerged not long after Zack did, and Tifa glanced around briefly before her shoulders sagged. "She's not here either," she murmured.

Zack's mind was on someone else as one of his fists clenched. "Cloud…I got you mixed up in all of this…" he began, closing his mako violet eyes tightly, "and now I'm going to help you like I was brought back to do."

Aeris took his unclenched hand in hers and squeezed it. "And I will, too," she told him. "In any way I can."

Zack smiled at her and lifted her hand up, kissing the inside of her wrist gently, murmuring, "I missed you," against it. Aeris giggled and squeezed his hand, murmuring, "I missed you, too."

"Let's see…" Tifa interrupted, turning to them, then turning a bright scarlet upon interrupting such a tender moment. Not only that, but she felt a pang of jealousy directed at Aeris, then her eyes widened. What was that? she asked herself. Where did that come from? Why was I jealous?

Duh, Tifa, it's because he's handsome, another voice of her thought, and upon realizing that the voice was right, Tifa's face turned a deep crimson and she ducked behind her bangs. You just didn't notice it before because you were too worried over Cloud. Tifa mumbled something incoherent and kicked at a stone on the ground and Aeris and Zack were snapped out of their moment to look at Tifa. "Are you all right, Tifa?" Zack asked, and when she looked up, his brows snapped together. "Why is your face all red? You aren't getting a fever or anything, are you?"

Tifa vehemently shook her head, flinching a little when Zack took off one of his gloves and pressed his hand to her forehead. "Well, you seem fine," he told her finally, putting the glove back on as Aeris giggled a little behind her hand.

Tifa nodded and took a deep breath to steady her voice before continuing what she was saying. "If we can get past the trains that are lit up, we should be able to get out of here," she told them, pointing at all of the crashed and trashed trains. Zack looked toward the wreckage and sighed.

"Let's get crackin', then," he said.

Through the Annoying Maze

A bright smile tore across Tifa's face when they came to the Pillar beyond the station. "We made it!" she cried, turning to Zack and Aeris. They were both smiling, too, happy they had made it in time. "The pillar's standing!" Tifa was close to crying with relief.

But then a series of rapid-fire shooting came to their ears. "You hear something above us?"

"……Gun fire?" Aeris asked, swallowing hard. She never did like guns. Suddenly, a body fell from high up on the pillar stairs and landed with a harsh THUD and crack. Zack went over and got to one knee by the person, his eyes widening in alarm at who he saw.

"Wedge!!" he exclaimed. "You all right?!"

Wedge blearily opened one eye. "……Zack……" he mumbled through cracked lips. "You remembered……my name." He grinned a little. "Barret and Tiff're up top. …help him……" Zack nodded and stood, Tifa and Aeris following suit. "An' Zack…" Mako violet eyes were trained on him. "Sorry, I wasn't any help with Cloud." He took one last breath and then went limp. Zack fists clenched.

He turned to his female comrades. "I'm going up!" he declared to them. "Aeris. Look after Wedge." With that, he turned and went for the pillar steps, all the while wondering how Tiffania had gotten so far ahead of them.

"Aeris, do me a favor," Tifa began, and Aeris met her burgundy eyes with her emerald ones. "Please, you remember Marlene and Cloud?"

Aeris smiled. "Don't worry, Tifa. I'll take them somewhere safe." Tifa looked infinitely relieved as Aeris went ahead to the Seventh Heaven, listening to Tifa call to the watching civilians, "It's dangerous here! Everyone get away from the pillar, quickly! Everyone get out of Sector 7!"

Aeris rushed by people who were flogging to the Pillar Station and she had her eyes set right on the Seventh Heaven sign in the distance. Upon coming up the stairs, she burst in. Marlene spun and her face brightened at who she saw in the doorway.

"Flower lady!" she cried, stretching out her arms. Aeris couldn't help but smile at the charming girl as she picked her up.

"Hello there, Marlene," she told the four-year-old. "Can you show me where Cloud is?"

Marlene giggled and played with the little crown of flowers Aeris had made her on her previous visit. "He's in the same place he was last time silly!" she cried, smiling. "But I'll show you if you forgot!" Aeris put her done and the little black haired girl took her hand and opened the secret door that led to the stairs up to the rooms. They walked in through Cloud's door, and Aeris rushed over.

"Cloud? Are you awake?" she whispered in the gentlest voice she could, reaching out to lightly tap his cheek. He turned his head in her general direction and nodded.

"Aeris?" he whispered. He hadn't spoken at a normal volume since he had been reunited with Zack. "Why are you here? Where's Zack and Tifa and the others?" he sounded frightened, reaching out blindly and Aeris gently took his hands, fighting the pang of hurt she felt in her heart at his condition.

"They're trying to save Sector 7 from being crushed by the Plate," she told him, reaching out to smooth down a spike, though it didn't do anything except bounce back up. "Tifa told me to get you and Marlene somewhere safe, so I'm going to have to move you. Do you think you can do that for me?"

Cloud face vaulted at the news and he began to bite his lip. "Why don't I just die?' he asked her morosely. "I'd be such a big help if I wasn't a burden anymore…"

"Cloud, no, you aren't a burden," Aeris tried to assure him, but tears were already falling down his unseeing eyes. Gently she wiped them away. "It would crush Zack if you died. After coming back to life for you and all, do you really want to repay him by giving up your life so easily?"

Cloud slowly shook his head. "N-No, I guess not," he mumbled. Aeris smiled and stood, still holding his hand. She turned to Marlene.

"Hey, sweetie," she called to the little girl, who meekly stepped into the doorway. Aeris stretched a hand out to her and she came forward into a one-armed hug from Aeris. "Do you know where Tifa keeps emergency things…?"

Back With Tifa and Zack…

Tifa caught up to Zack as he was trying to get Biggs away from the rail, but Biggs' grip was vicelike. "Zack…" he rasped, and Zack stopped trying to pry Biggs' hands off the rail to look at the man. "Do you…care about…what happens to the…Planet?"

Zack's jaw clenched. "I do care, a lot, but I care more about what happens to you right now," he told Biggs.

Biggs smirked as his eyelids fell shut. "Hmph," he grunted. "You haven't changed. Go help Barret 'n' Tiff." His body sagged against the rail and this time Zack had no problems taking the body off and sitting it against the pole. He turned and saw Tifa run up the steps and see Biggs' body.

"Oh no…" she mumbled. Sighing heavily, Zack nodded. They stayed there a moment longer before continuing higher.

With Aeris, Cloud, and Marlene…

"So, Cloud," Aeris sparked up a conversation as she led him past the Pillar and toward the Station where a train would take them to Sector 5 and her house. She loosely held his hand in her left one and Marlene held her right one, skipping along beside them, blissfully unaware of the struggles of the adult world, or that her home was about to be crushed.

"Yeah?" he whispered.

"What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?"

Cloud slightly shifted the pack of provisions on his back and turned his face skyward, or Platward if you please, and said, "Vanilla, I guess."

"I like chocolate!" Marlene piped up, and Aeris turned to her with a bright smile.

"And who doesn't love chocolate ice cream?" she asked the little girl sweetly as they boarded the train, not even needing tickets due to the crisis at hand.

Cloud coughed a little. "I like chocolate, too," he mumbled quietly to her as Marlene bounced up into a seat and she sat him down before Aeris sat down herself.

"And so do I. How about once we get to my house, we each have a bowl of chocolate ice cream and wait for Zack and the others to come?"

Marlene enthusiastically agreed to this, and Cloud smiled a little.

The Pillar:

"Jessie!" Zack called upon seeing the bleeding woman laying on the stairs not farther up. Her eyelids flickered a little before she opened them and gazed up at Zack. She msiled. "…Zack… I'm glad……" She coughed, and a lot of blood came up. "I could talk with you…one last time."

Zack gently brushed her bangs off her forehead as Tifa kneeled over her, too. "Don't say things like that," he mumbled gently.

There were a few pauses in her slight breathing-she was laughing a little. "Really…?" She shook her head slightly. "Caring…as…always… I always…did like you…that way." She closed her eyes and her chest stopping rising and falling altogether. She had died, too.

Sector 5:

It hadn't taken long for the train Aeris, Cloud, and Marlene were on to stop in the Sector 5 station and Aeris, Cloud, and Marlene all joined hands again as they stepped off. Looking around, Aeris recognized where they were and gently pulled them forward. "Follow me," she told them brightly, though inside she was sick with worry over Zack, Tifa, and Tiffania. Were they all right? Were they dead? Were they wounded? Captured? She knew she shouldn't be thinking about such things, but she just couldn't help it.

It was just when they turned onto the short road that would lead them to her house that a familiar voice greeted her. "Aeris. It's good to see you again." She stopped and turned her head to see Tseng standing behind her, smiling a little at her. He looked at Marlene, then at Cloud, and then at her again. "Started a family?"

She turned a fierce shade of fuchsia and shook her head. "N-No, Tseng, I didn't," she told him. "I may love kids, but I don't think I'm ready for that…" Her heart was thudding hard against her chest. She knew why he was here. He was here to take her to the Shinra HQ and in turn, to Hojo.

"You know why I'm here," he told her, taking a step closer. Marlene gave a slight whimper and ducked behind Aeris, only slightly peeking out. Cloud was tense. Behind them, a door opened, and Elmyra stepped out.

"Aeris?" she called. "Is that you? Are you coming in?"

"Marlene," Aeris told the girl behind her. "I want you to go to my mom behind us, okay?"

"Are you coming, too, flower lady?" Marlene whispered.

Aeris looked Tseng directly in the eyes. "Cloud and I will come with you, but she stays," Aeris bargained.

Tseng looked a little bored. "Why would I want to take Cloud?" he asked her. "After the whole episode at the cliff, Hojo had been disgusted and decided that he didn't need his 'Specimen C' any longer. Why should I bring him?"

Aeris knew Hojo wanted her because she was an Ancient, despite how she tried to hide it from everyone. She heard from Cloud what he and Zack had been through, and that he didn't want to go back. Slowly, she leaned up to Cloud. "Do you want to stay, or go with me to Shinra HQ?" she whispered, her voice wavering.

"I…I'll go with you. But how will you get him to…take me?" he mumbled. He was terrified; he knew that going with her would mean going back to Hojo, something he did not want. But he felt safer around Aeris, especially when Zack was gone.

Aeris smiled and looked at Tseng. "Why would you want him?" She sighed. "Well, mainly because he's an Ancient, too."

Pillar:

When they came to the top of the Pillar, they saw Barret and Tiffania back to back, Barret shooting at the helicopters, Tiffania keeping an eye out for any foot SOLDIERs. She was the first who saw Zack and Tifa, and ran forward to embrace each of them. "Tiff!" Zack exclaimed when they separated. "How'd did you get here before us?"

Tiffania put her finger to her lips. "That's for me to know, and you to never find out," she told him as Barret came barreling over.

"Tifa! Zack!" he exclaimed, happy to see that they had made it. "You came!" He crushed them both in a one-armed bear hug for each.

"Be careful," Tiffania warned. "They're attacking from the helicopter." Just after she finished saying that, a helicopter came down low.

"Here they come!" called Tifa as a red-haired man jumped down from the helicopter by the control pad. He quickly configured the bomb on it just as AVALANCHE ran up. He held up a hand and wagged a finger at them.

"You're too late," Reno told them, smiling smugly. "Once I push this button." He pressed a button on the console and a countdown began. "That's all, folks! Mission accomplished."

Tiffania ground her teeth. "Barret, Zack, Tifa, you guys do something while I disarm the bomb. Can you do that?"

"Now, now, Tiffania, I can't have you do that," Reno told her, charging up his EMR. "No one gets in the way of Reno and the Turks…"

With a growl, Barret and Tiffania both slammed into him and started to fight as Tifa ran to the console. Zack watched over her shoulder, his arms braced on either side of her. She tried a lot of things, but nothing would work. Time ticked away on the bomb, and Tifa began to get more and more anxious, and actually gave a little jump when she heard Reno say, "It's time," and bolt for the stairs.

Finally, she turned to Zack, her eyes wide with panic. "Zack! I don't know how to stop this," she told him, her voice trembling. "Try it." He nodded as she ducked under his arm and tried everything Tifa did not, including a few things only a First Class SOLDIER would know, but nothing would work.

He sighed and stepped away from the console , shaking his head at Tifa. "It's not a normal time bomb," he told her.

At that point, a Shinra Helicopter rose up, and standing on it was tseng, looking very smug. "That's right," he told them. "You'll have a hard time disarming that one. It'll blow the second some stupid jerk touches it."

Tifa looked extremely panicked and worried. "Please!" she begged. "Stop it!"

Tseng laughed. "…Only a Shinra Executive can set up or disarm the Emergency Plat Release System."

Barret raised his gun arm. "Shut yer hole!" he yelled, and opened fire at the helicopter, which flew just out of reach.

Tseng shook his head. "I wouldn't try that……" he advised. "You just might make me injure out special guests." He stepped out of the way and Aeris looked up from where she had her head buried in Cloud's spikes.

"Aeris!!" Tifa called.

"Cloud!!" cried Zack and Tiffania.

"Oh, you know each other? How nice you could see each other one last time. You should thank me." Tseng seemed extremely pleased.

Zack took a step closer. "Tseng! You aren't going to take Cloud back to Hojo, are you?!"

Tseng shrugged. "I haven't decided what I'll do, Zack," he said. "Our orders were to find and catch the last remaining Ancient, or in this case, Ancients." He chuckled at Zack and Tiffania's wide-eyed gazes. "It's taken us a long time, but now I can finally report this to the President."

"Tifa!" Aeris called. "Don't worry! She's all right!"

Tseng suddenly turned around and smacked Aeris with such a force she fell away from Cloud. His breathing hitched as he blindly reached out for Aeris, getting close to hyperventilation before she managed to sit up and embrace him. She stared up at Tseng in fear as her stinging cheek turned red. Tears formed in her eyes and she buried her head in Cloud's hair and sobbed quietly. Cloud tried to comfort her by hugging her, but it didn't work seeing as he was terrified, too.

"Aeris!" Tifa called, reaching a hand up to the helicopter.

Aeris momentarily raised her head and staunched her tears enough to say, "Hurry and get out!"

Tseng chuckled again. "Well, it should be starting right about now. Think you can escape in time?" With that, the helicopter rose up higher as the support blew up partially. The helicopter expertly dodged around the falling debris. Barret looked around and ran to a wire hooked onto the outer edge.

He turned to the others. Zack was glancing around and dodging away from falling debris, Tifa was looking around in a panic, and Tiffania was standing there with a distant look in her eyes. "Yo, we can use this wire to get out!" Barret called, and Tifa and Zack ran over. Tiffania stayed in her spot. Zack looked at her.

"Tiff! Come on, you don't have time to be standing there!" Zack called.

Tiffania looked at the trio and shook her head with a smile. "You guys go, you've got no room for me," she told them. At their wide-eyed look, she crossed her arms. "Go already! I'll find you guys again one day, don't worry! GO!" Right then, a huge chunk of debris fell and blocked Tifa, Zack, and Barret's view of Tiffania, and another fell, blocking off the exit down the stairs. There was no choice now. They had to go.

As they swung through Sector 7 with the Plate crashing down behind them, Zack felt hot tears build up in his eyes and fall down his face. Everything that could've gone wrong just now did. Cloud and Aeris were being carted off to Hojo, Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie had died, Tiffania had been martyr…he wondered if this was how Cloud felt when Zack had died. This iron fist squeezing your heart until it snapped, the inability to breathe right, the numbness in the body, and the tears flowing down the cheeks.

As he staggered away from Barret and Tifa to into the playground, he fell to his knees and grabbed his hair. He couldn't stand it. He couldn't stand that he had failed them all. He had been revived to help them and be given a second chance, right? Well, he had absolutely failed, from what he could see. Everyone was gone. What could he do now? If anything, the only thing he could do, is cry.

-.-.-

End: Aack! So much death in that chapter! Geez. Well, yeah. Fans of Tiffania are probably going to flame me for doing that. Sorry you guys! Ah, but such things are needed to progress in a story. I'm not going to spoil it for you whether she's dead or not. You'll have to wait 'n' see!

Review, you little worm babies you! :D


	8. Part II Chapter Seven

Blind SOLDIER  
By BlueFox

**_DO NOT COPY MY STORIES!!_**

**If anyone wants to post my stories anywhere else, please just ASK and then give me credit for writing it. PM with any requests.**

Intro: Urrgh…I'm a bit peeved at the moment, and I don't feel like telling you guys why either. We'll leave it at: family issues. Just…here's the stupid chapter. Oh, but I have a question for you all. Does anyone know a website that centers around the pairing of Zack/Aerith? I've seen quite a bit for Aer-Seph, but I'd love to find at least one for Zerith, y'know?

Disclaimer: Hmmm…do I own Final Fantasy VII or Within Temptation? :opens wallet and watches moths fly out: Well, I think that answers THAT question…

Claimer: As much as I would like to, I don't have a snappy, smart-ass claimer thought up yet. We'll just leave it simple: I own Tiffania.

Part II  
Chapter Seven  
_"Memories are nice, but that's all they are."_

As he staggered away from Barret and Tifa to into the playground, he fell to his knees and grabbed his hair. He couldn't stand it. He couldn't stand that he had failed them all. He had been revived to help them and be given a second chance, right? Well, he had absolutely failed, from what he could see. Everyone was gone. What could he do now? If anything, the only thing he could do, is cry.

-.-.-

But he wasn't the only one handling his grief. Barret was, too, in a less-productive way. He ran to the debris that was Sector 7 of Midgar and began to try and find a weak spot he could burrow through. "Marlene!" he yelled desperately. "MARLENE! MARRRRLEEEENE!" He slammed his human fist into the ground before attacking the debris again. "Biggs! Wedge!! Jessie!! Dammit!" he shrieked in anger. "Goddammit! DAMMIT ALL TO HELL!!" He took a brief pause to regain some of his breath. "What the hell's it all for?! ARGHHHH!!" He opened fire on the debris, and Tifa lunged forward, wrapping her arms around the metal, her lip trembling as she fought against her own tears.

"Barret, stop…" she softly pleaded. "Please stop, Barret."

Barret slowly dropped his gaze. "God damn… Marlene…"

It was a few moments later, when they had all finally calmed down, and Zack was laying his head in Tifa's lap and she absently played with his spikes, that Tifa spoke up. "……… Barret……?" she whispered softly. The gunman looked at her from his hand. "Marlene is…" She exhaled a little, and Zack opened a violet orb to look up at her curiously. "I think Marlene is safe."

Barret's brows furrowed. "……huh?" he asked her.

Running her fingers through Zack's hair and smiling when he gave a little content sigh, she looked at Barret. "Right before they took Aeris and Cloud, Aeris said, 'Don't worry, she's all right.' She was probably talking about Marlene."

Barret's eyes brightened considerably. "R-Really?" he stammered.

Tifa then dropped her gaze back down to Zack, who still had one eye open, but it was slowly closing. "But…" she breathed.

Barret looked downcast again. "Biggs…… Wedge… Jessie…… Tiffania…"

Zack opened his other eye and looked at Barret. "All four of them were in the pillar," he murmured. "Tiffania stayed behind to give us less wind resistance so we could get out." The shock that she had turned out to martyr for her friends just like he had been caused a stray tear to escape from his eye and he felt Tifa wipe it away.

"Think I don't know that?" Barret snapped at Zack. "But…we, all of us fought together. I don't wanna think of them as dead!"

"…and the other people in Sector 7," Tifa added.

Barret got to his feet and threw his hand and gun arm in the air. "This is all screwed up!" he yelled, pointing to the debris. "They destroyed an entire village just to get to us! They killed so many people."

Tifa looked up at him sharply, a defiant glow in her eyes. "…are you saying it's our fault?" she demanded crossly. "Because AVALANCHE was here? Innocent people lost their lives because of us?"

Barret shook his head. "No, Tifa! That ain't it! Hell no! It ain't us!" he denied over and over. "It's the damn Shinra. It's never been nobody but the Shinra! They're evil and destroyin' our planet just to…" he struggled a bit, "build their power and line their own damn pockets with gold! If we don't get rid of them, they're gonna kill this planet!" He sighed heavily. "Our fight ain't ever gonna be over until we get rid of them!!"

Tifa stopped stroking Zack's hair as he sat up, contemplating Barret's words. She looked at her palms and flexed her fingers, sighing. "………I don't know."

Barret unconsciously rubbed his gun arm with his human hand. "What don't you know? You don't believe me?" he asked her.

She shook her head, but did not raise her head to meet his eyes. "It's not that. I'm not sure about…me. My feelings." She brushed a bang behind her ear as she said this.

Barret turned to Zack, who had a distant look in his eyes. "An' what about you?" Zack didn't answer. He merely stood up and brushed off his pants before walking toward the entrance of Sector 6. Barret stared after him, his brown eyes glinting with curiosity. "Yo!" he called to Zack, but the ex-SOLDIER's step didn't waver, nor did he even appear to have heard Barret call out after him. The burly gunman looked at his fightress companion. She was staring after Zack with a forlorn look in her eyes. "Where's he think he's goin'?"

She pondered this for a minute, before her eyes flickered with realization. "Aeris and Cloud!"

Barret gave her a blank look for a second, before realizing what she meant. "Oh yeah, them. What's up with them?"

Tifa shook her head, still watching Zack's retreating form as he got farther and farther away. "…I don't really know… But Aeris is the one I left Marlene with."

Barret slammed his fist into the ground. "Damn! Marlene!!" he swore, swiping his human hand down his face. "Tifa. There ain't no turnin' back now."

**With Zack…**

_Memories…  
Memories…_

Zack sighed slightly at the soft whisper in his mind, gently calming him down as his pace slowed and he almost waited for his teammates, which he knew would follow him. He stopped and turned when he heard the large thudding stomps that was Barret running after him, Tifa not far behind. He grinned in greeting at them, but it was only half-hearted, seeing as he was still trying to get over the huge losses AVALANCHE just went through.

"Zack! Take me to Marlene!" Barret demanded.

"You're going to help Aeris and Cloud?" Tifa asked a second after Barret finished his demand.

Zack nodded. "Yeah… But before that, there's something I want to know."

_Memories…  
Memories…_

"What's that?" Tifa cocked her head, playing with the two tails of her ponytail behind her back.

"It's about the Ancients," he told her.

**Zack's Memory…**

_Cissnei crossed her arms. "Calling Aeris now?" she asked him._

_Zack turned a bit red as he smiled. "How did you know? Am I being watched or something?" He glanced around for one of those hidden camera things, and Cissnei giggled a bit._

_"The one being watched is her. That girl is an Ancient, the last one of her kind on this planet," she explained, and he gave her a blank look. She looked slightly astonished. "You didn't know?"_

_Zack turned his eyes up to the beautiful blue skies above Costa del Sol, absently wiggling his toes in the warm sand beneath them. "She…never really said anything about it," he told her honestly. "The last one of her kind on this planet huh?" He chuckled a bit at his fond memories of his flower girl. "Sure seems that way."_

_"No. You're no longer the Sephiroth I once knew," Zack accused as he felt the blood run down his right arm from his shoulder wound. He was breathing heavily, trying to keep up with the General, who was unharmed and not even winded._

_"I am the chosen one," he told the black-haired man. "The chosen one to rule over this planet."_

_His vision was fuzzy as the scientist stood over Cloud, an evil intent in his eye. He wanted so much to say something, to turn Hojo away from Cloud, to wipe that look out of his eye. Suddenly, as if someone cast Stop on the area, Hojo froze, everything froze, and Tiffania entered unseen by everyone but Zack, bending over Tifa. There was a nasty cut on her cheek, a few bruises on her right arm, and a shoulder wound similar to his on her left as she took her jacket off to wrap it around Tifa's bleeding chest._

_She scooped the fightress up and turned to go, but not before looking at Zack. There was a deep sadness in her eyes as she mouthed, 'I'm sorry I wasn't faster,' and ran from the Reactor._

_Slowly, he drew his gaze back up to Hojo, who was chuckling with distorted glee at something Zack had missed, and soon enough, the SOLDIER closed his eyes and faded out._

Zack rubbed his temples to relieve the sudden headache that had assaulted him, and opened his glowing violet eyes to find that he was on his knees on the ground, and Tifa was gently rubbing his back. "Are you all right?" she asked him, concern bright in her burgundy eyes.

"Pull it together, man!" Barret said gruffly, turning away.

**Later that Night in Aeris' House…**

_In this world you tried,  
Not leaving me alone, behind…_

Zack looked up at the sky for a moment, before gently nudging Cloud and grinning. "I'm just joking. I'd never abandon you. We're friends right?"

* * *

_There's no other way,  
I pray to the gods let him stay._

Are you doing well? Where are you? It's been 4 years. This will be the 89th letter I've written but I will not send out any more. I hope that you receive this last letter.

Zack! The flowers are selling very well. It makes everyone smile. It's all thanks to you.

-Aeris

* * *

_The memories cease the pain inside,  
Now I know why_

Zack's eyes widened at the paper. "4 years? What do you mean by last?!" he very nearly yelled as tears swam over his vision, blurring the few words on the page, before he tipped his head back and screamed out all of the air in his lungs. He stood like that, panting for a bit, before pocketing the note. "Aeris, wait for me."

* * *

_All of my memories keep you near  
In silent moments  
Imagining you here_

* * *

He grinned as he walked out to face down the Army sent after him. He made a slight tsking noise as he shook his head, his hands on his waist. "Honestly. Freedom sure is pricey," he murmured. There was absolute silence as he reached back to unsheath the Buster Sword. Only the wind blew. It was the only surviving witness.

* * *

All of my memories keep you near  
In silent whispers  
Silent tears

* * *

Zack closed his eyes and smiled as he felt the sun shine on him. "Hold on to your dreams! If you want to become a hero you have to hold on to your dreams."

Slowly, Cloud nodded, his blond hair gently brushing his cheek. "Thank you," he murmured. "I won't forget. Good night, Zack."

* * *

Zack's mako violet eyes sprang open as he clenched the blankets around him in a death grip. It was early morning, before dawn, and it took him a few seconds to recognize his surroundings. It was his guest room in Aeris' house. He had been the first to retreat to his room after Elmyra told them everything about what she knew of the Ancients. Of course, Tifa had brought him his dinner in his room, with hers as well, and they both ate together in companionable silence before she cleared the empty dishes away and parted with a tired and sad smile, which he had returned.

And then, he had climbed into the bed and drifted off to sleep, dreaming of the memories he had before the end of his first life and subsequently the beginning of his second. He lay there for a few more moments, before stretching and feeling his back pop in several places, eliciting a content sigh of relief as he fell limp. It was about five minutes later he had put on all of his extra gear and tied up his boots and clunked down the stairs in a just-woken-up daze that he heard Barret speaking with Elmyra.

"Sorry, but can you take care of Marlene a bit longer?" he was asking her, and Zack paused midstep, his foot hovering over the floor below the last step. He glanced over at Tifa, who was standing by the door, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she yawned. She blinked blearily a bit before seeing Zack and raising her hand in a 'Good morning' gesture, which he returned with a nod of his head before yawning himself.

"Yes, I don't mind," Elmyra assured Barret, who looked immensely relieved, then a small bit worried.

" This place is dangerous now," he told her. "You better go somewhere else."

Elmyra smiled and nodded as if she had already know. "You're right," she told him. "But promise me that you'll come back to her. Don't get yourself killed." Barret gave her an assuring nod, and the trio bid the woman a farewell and headed outside.

When they were outside, Tifa and Barret turned to Zack. "How do we get to the Shinra building?" she asked him.

Zack opened his mouth to answer, but Barret beat him to the punch. "There ain't no train that goes up there anymore…"

They were silent for a few moments. "Well," Tifa finally broke the silence, "let's just go to Wall Market. We might be able to find something there."

**A Little Later, in Wall Market…**

Zack shivered. Obviously, this place didn't harbor fond memories for the ex-SOLDIER (and we all know why). Not only that, but the hoots and catcalls he was being thrown gave him the uncontrollable urge to just run away and hide in a corner. He was STRAIGHT dammit! Tifa cast him a glance as they headed for the Junk Shop and stifled her giggles from the look on his face and the way his left eyelid twitched at every catcall directed at him. Luckily, Barret was none the wiser, and could only wonder…

When they walked into the Junk Shop, the clerk looked up from where he was tinkering, and his eyes widened. "Zack! How's it been? How long has it been, five years or something?"

Zack grinned and scratched the back of his head. "Something like that," he said. "Listen, we need your help. Friends of mine other than these two," he gestured to Tifa and Barret who were exploring the small store, "were taken by the Shinra. I need your help getting onto the Plate."

The clerk's brows furrowed. "I thought you were a SOLDIER. Shouldn't you have free access or something?"

"I'm not a SOLDIER anymore. I ran from them not too long ago," Zack told the man.

"Ah, I see." The clerk rubbed his chin as he glanced around his little work area. "You might want these Batteries." He placed three large Batteries up on the counter. "I just found then a few days ago, but I repaired them, so it's all right."

Zack scratched his head as he leaned on the counter, examining the Batteries. "Why do I need a battery to climb up to the Plate?"

The clerk chuckled and pushed the Batteries toward Zack. "You'll find out when you get there. Here. Free of charge."

Zack grinned and picked up the batteries, somehow finding a spot to put them in his pretty full pack. "Thanks man. And don't worry. I'll be back one day to drop by."

"I'll hold you to that."

"I'll hold myself to that. Tifa, Barret, come on. We've got what we needed, let's go." Tifa bowed in her thanks as Barret thumped outside. Zack led them further, toward Don Corneo's mansion and saw a few kids run off. Curious, Zack decided to follow them, and when they came to the graffitied wall, the kid below the wire shivered and put his arms around himself. "Everyone climbed up this. Looks scary……" He shivered again.

"Can we climb it?" Tifa asked.

The kid nodded. "Yeah. It leads to the Upper World."

Barret pumped his human fist into the air. "Awright!" he declared. "We'll climb this wire!"

Zack shook his head. "There's no way we can do this. You know how far it goes up?" He directed his last question at the kid, who shook his head.

Barret, being Barret, had to argue. "This IS a way!" he declared. "Look! What's that look like?"

Zack squinted at the wire. "Just a normal wire?" he asked, not seeing where the gunman was going with this.

"Oh yeah?" Barret scoffed. "Well, to me it looks like a golden shiny wire of hope."

Tifa nodded. "You're right. This is the only way to save Cloud and Aeris…" she agreed.

Zack smiled a little, rubbing the back of his neck. "Okay, that was an analogy I would've thought of before, but, Barret, I understand how you feel." He pumped his fist into the air. "Let's go!"

**After Getting Past the Sector 7 Debris…**

Zack's hand gripped the handle of the Ultima Weapon tightly, his face set into a grim, determined look, violet eyes blazing. Tifa stood on his left, cracking her knuckles as she, too, had the grim determined look on her face. Barret reloaded his gun arm and checked for spare packs in his pockets before matching the others' look at the building with his own. Zack glanced at Tifa, and she met his gaze and nodded. He looked at Barret, and he nodded.

"Hey, you oughta know this building well," the gunman said.

Zack nodded. "Yeah…I spent a lot of my time here." He turned his gaze back to the building. "I don't regret it now."

"I heard about this place before. Every floor above the 60th is special, and not easy to get to even for employees," he told the others. "Must be where they took Aeris an' Cloud. Awright, let's go!!" He thumped forward toward the door and Tifa lunged forward, grabbing his arm in her unusually strong grip.

"Wait a second!" she protested. He looked back at her, confused. "You're not thinking of just going in right through the main entrance, are you?"

Barret fully turned to her. "Well, what else does it look like?!" he yelled, and Zack winced at the volume. "I'm gonna kick some Shinra butt and……"

"That's not going to work!" Tifa cut him off. "Do you see how heavy the security is through the front? We've got to find another way." Barret glanced over his shoulder and saw that there were quite a few guards near the front, but somehow they hadn't been noticed yet. He huffed and turned to Tifa, crossing his arms, careful to not shoot Zack's foot in the process.

"Ain't gonna be no other way!" he argued with her. "If we keep wastin' time like this, Cloud an' Aeris'll…"

Tifa angrily spread her arms as Zack looked up thoughtfully, lost in his own thoughts, only half listening to his teammates. "I know that!" she yelled. "But if we get caught here…" The fightress turned and looked at Zack. "Hey, Zack." His name seemed to snap him out of his thoughts and he looked at her. "…What should we do?"

Zack pointed to the sky. "We wait for nightfall," he told her. "Security will be lighter then, and that's when we'll bust in!" he declared.

Barret grinned broadly and clapped him hard on the back, almost knocking him over. "Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout!"

* * *

End: Whoo, and so Part II and this fic are drawing to a close. About three chapters left, and then I'll started working on the sequel! I honestly can't wait! In the next chapter, the trio will infiltrate Shinra Tower via the front. Will Zack run into any familiar faces? Will they be able to recover Cloud and Aeris? Will I get off my lazy ass and give you a quick update? Find out next time!

So…review you worm babies you! :D

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	9. Part II Chapter Eight

Blind SOLDIER  
By BlueFox

**_DO NOT COPY MY STORIES!!_**

_If anyone wants to post my stories anywhere else, please just ASK and then give me credit for writing it. PM with any requests._

Intro: I'm baaaack! And I just suffered a humiliating defeat from an enemy called the Sootie in Star Ocean 3's Maze of Tribulations, and therefore, since I do NOT want to redo Level 5 of the Maze again, I decided to update this story. Yay!

Disclaimer: Hmmm…do I own Final Fantasy VII? :opens wallet and watches moths fly out: Well, I think that answers THAT question…

Part II  
Chapter Eight  
_"The Tower my sole guide"_

Zack pointed to the sky. "We wait for nightfall," he told her. "Security will be lighter then, and that's when we'll bust in!" he declared.

Barret grinned broadly and clapped him hard on the back, almost knocking him over. "Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout!"

* * *

The door slid open and the brown-haired receptionist was jolted out of her half doze. She glanced at her computer clock and saw that it was nearing midnight. _Who would be here at this time of night?_ she groggily thought as she looked up. Standing there was a familiar face. "Zack?" She blinked quite few times before noticing the two people behind him. She stood. "Zack." The ex-SOLDIER looked at her and smiled.

"Hey Shelley, how are ya?" he asked her as if it was just yesterday he had seen her, and not five or so years before. Shelley crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

"Excuse me!" she told him in a no-nonsense tone, and he looked a bit startled. "If your friends don't have an appointment, they'll just have to…"

Barret shoved Zack roughly out of the way and leveled his gun arm at Shelley. "Don't need no appointment…" he told her dangerously. A small bead of sweat crept down the side of her face. Barret turned to the group of workers who stood near the elevators, petrified. He set his gun on them. "This is a 'mergency!" he yelled. "Anyone who don't wanna get their faces bashed in better git outta the way!"

Chaos immediately erupted in the lobby as the workers stumbled all over to get away from the man with the gun arm. "Yaagghh!" a woman screamed.

"Who do they think they are?" demanded a man.

"Y-You don't think that's AVALANCHE?" cried another.

Two Grenade Combatants ran down the stairs from the second floor. "Intruders! Seize them!" one yelled. Before they could get close enough, Zack incinerated them with a well-timed Fire3-All combo and their burned bodies slumped over, unconscious.

"Let's go to the top!" yelled Barret, running for the stairs. Tifa and Zack glanced at each other, shrugged a little, and followed their teammate to the elevator. Once inside, Barret pushed the button for the 59th floor. Zack was oddly quiet, and Tifa gave him a concerned look.

"What's wrong?"

Zack sighed and ran a hand through his black hair. "I didn't want to start a ruckus till we saved Cloud and Aeris." He sighed again. "I should have known that was impossible though…"

"Heh, heh, heh," Barret chuckled.

"What is it?" Zack's voice on a slightly higher pitch as he rubbed the goosebumps on his arms. "You're givin' me the willies."

"So there are times when even you fight for other people." Barret shook his head as though in disbelief. "I am impressed."

Zack flashed him a sparkling smile. "I aim to please."

Barret rubbed the back of his head. "Y'know, I ain't so good at sayin' this, but… Sorry…for lotsa things." Zack clapped him on shoulder, and then the elevator dinged and the doors opened for them on the 59th floor.

When they walked out, however, there were the clicks of guns as more Grenade Combatants had been waiting. Zack threw Tifa onto the ground beneath him and used Ultima to shield them both from the bullets the Grenade Combatants shot at them. When the shooting paused long enough for them to reload, Barret mowed down about three of the opposition as Zack effortlessly cut down the other two. After nudging the last one he had killed with a grimace, Zack kneeled down and took away his Keycard 60.

"This'll give us access to level 60. We'll have to nab a Keycard 61 from someone up there to get privileges higher up. Come on." He swiped the card through the keypad beside the elevator the guards had been assigned to and the doors opened with a ding and they clambered inside. A short time later, they came out on the 60th floor and immediately ducked to the office on their left.

Barret stood at the window by the door. "Lookit that, all them guards is runnin' around," he mumbled. He turned to Zack. "Zack, you go on ahead and signal us when it's safe to come." Zack, being the great ex-SOLDIER he was, easily got them to the other side without any of them being seen. Once the door was safely closed behind them, Barret pumped his fist into the air. "Okay! We're gonna rock!"

Tifa glanced at the door to make sure no one was coming inside. "Remember, we're here to save Aeris and Cloud."

"Hell, I know that!"

With a sigh, Zack led them up to the next level, where the trio pretended to be repairmen to get a free Keycard 62 for the next level. There, they had to find out the password for the Mayor to get Keycard 63. Since they got it on the first try, they also got an Elemental materia, which Zack outfitted into Tifa's armor so she had an immunity to Fire attacks, then proceeded to the 64th floor.

"Yo, Zack," Barret asked when they came out to the gym-like area of the 64th, "why'd we skip 63?"

"Trust me when I say that Aeris and Cloud aren't on that floor," was all Zack said. Tifa accepted it as Zack led them up the next set of stairs to the 65th floor. After they found all of the pieces of the Midgar model and the Keycard 66, they went up to the last floor, the sixty-sixth.

Immediately, Zack recognized this floor and knew that the conference room's doors were locked and barred tightly so there could be no eavesdroppers (it should be said that Zack was the reason they did that in the first place) but he knew of another way to check. He walked across the floor toward the bathroom area, with Barret and Tifa keeping a respected distance away from him to not bring up suspicion, and opened the stall door.

"Um, Zack?" Tifa hesitantly began. He looked back at her and she got a brush of pink across her face as she glanced up at him. "Wh-What are you doing?"

"Yeah man!" Barret said from behind her. "This's no time to take a tinkle!"

A pink dust settled on Zack's face as he shook his head. "I'm not here to do that!" he denied. "Just follow me." He stood on the toilet and reached up, pulled the large vent cage down and putting it on the toilet tank's cover. Then he jump up and grabbed the hole in the ceiling, and pulled himself up into it. He headed for the other vent and turned to wait for Barret and Tifa, who came in a few moments after he did. They settled around the other ceiling vent, directly over the conference room, where said conference was taking place.

"Geez!" Barret whispered to his comrades. "That's a lotta suits!" Zack put his finger to his mouth in a motion for him to shut the hell up, which Barret complied to, and they all looked down to watch.

**In the Conference Room…**

Reeve stood up and faced the President. "We have the damage estimates for Sector 7," he began. "Considering those factories we already set up and all the investments, the cost to rebuild Sector 7 is…"

The President held up a hand to silence Reeve. "We're not rebuilding," he said.

Reeve face-vaulted. "What?" he asked in slight shock.

The President lowered his hand. "We're leaving Sector 7 as it is," he continued, "and restarting the Neo-Midgar plan."

"…Then the two Ancients?" Reeve asked.

"The Promised Land will soon be ours," the President said, a greedy look in his eye. "I want you to raise the Mako rates 15 percent in every area."

Palmer began to jumped up and down in his too-tight brown suit. "Rate hike! Rate hike! Tra, la, la!" he said in a singsong voice. "And please include our Space Program in the budget!"

The President looked at the balding man. "Reeve and Scarlet will divide the extra income from the rate increase," he said calmly.

Palmer stopped bouncing and bowed his head. "Oh man!"

Reeve leaned forward on the table, eyes serious. "Sir." The President looked over at him. "If you raise the rates, the people will lose confidence…"

The President waved it off. "It'll be all right. The ignorant citizens won't lose confidence, they'll trust Shinra Inc. even more," he assured the other man.

"Ha ha ha!" Heidegger laughed. "After all, we're the ones who saved Sector 7 from AVALANCHE!" he declared.

**In the Vent…**

Zack had gone numb for a moment. He knew Aeris was an Ancient, but Cloud, too? Is that why Hojo had wanted him in the first place? Is that why he tortured the blond more than him? He clenched his fist and allowed a soft growl to come through his throat and felt Tifa's reassuring hand on his arm as Barret said, "That dirty shit," after Heidegger made his statement.

"Speak of the devil," Zack muttered as the oily-haired scientists walked onto the scene, his hands behind his back, his forehead bulging as always.

**Below…**

"Hojo," the President greeted. "How are they?"

Hojo pushed his glasses up on his forehead and turned away. "As specimens, they are inferior to the two I have had before," he began. "I'm still in the process of comparing them to the two SOLDIERs from a year ago, Zack Fair and Cloud Strife. For now, the difference between the blond from then and now is 18 percent."

The President folded his fingers together, then jumped at the sudden thump that was heard somewhere above them. He glanced around, but when he didn't see anything, looked at Hojo. "How long will the research take?" he questioned.

Hojo put his hand to his chin as he did the math. "Probably 120 years," he finally stated, shaking his head. "It's probably impossible to finish in our life time, or in the lifetime of the specimens too, for that matter. That's why we're thinking of breeding them. Then we could create one that could withstand out research for a long time."

"What about the Promised Land? Won't I hinder our plans?"

Hojo turned away from the President. "That's what I need to plan. The mother is strong…and yet has her weaknesses." With that, he made his leave. The President stood and looked at the others who had joined them.

"That concludes our meeting," he told them, and one by one, they all left. Scarlet was the last one. She paused in the doorway and turned around.

"Something stinks," she muttered, before exiting.

**In the Vent…**

Zack was still fuming. Out of a bout of rage, he had punched the vent, which had caused the thump in the conference room moments before. "The sadistic bastard…he's got his hands on Cloud again." He punched the vent again. "Dammit!"

"Zack, calm down!" Barret berated him.

Tifa put her hands over his fist. "Please."

Zack's shoulders slumped. "And I spent that whole year…just to get him out… Urrgh!" He slammed his head into the vent wall before taking a deep breath and looking into the worried faces of his friends. He shook his head. "Come on, let's follow them."

They exited the duct and headed back over to the stairs, staying far behind Hojo, who seemed to be meandering all over the floor. Zack glared holes into the scientist's back. "Damn you to hell, Hojo…" he muttered, his fists clenching so tight, he could hear the leather strain. He loosened them as they proceeded up to the stairs.

They watched Hojo head for the other side of the 67th floor. Barret looked at Zack. "I remembered him," Barret said. "That Hojo guy. He's in charge of the Shinra's Science Department. Zack, don't you know him?"

Zack's eyes narrowed dangerously and Tifa shot Barret a nasty look. "Oh yeah, I know him. He made me and Cloud into experiments for his own sick and twisted enjoyment before I broke out and met you."

Barret suddenly looked uncomfortable and Tifa put her hand on Zack's arm in what she hoped was a reassuring way. He glanced at her and smiled before leading them toward the direction Hojo had gone in. They hadn't even noticed he had stopped until they saw him in front of a glass container. Thinking quickly, they ducked behind another holding case out of the way as one of Hojo's assistants approached him. "Is this today's specimen?" he asked.

Hojo looked at the assistant. "Yes. We're starting right away. Raise it to the upper level." As the assistant went to the workstation to type in the command, Hojo stroked the glass affectionately. "My precious specimen," he murmured, before walking to the elevator.

Tifa was the first to come out of their hiding spot. She approached the container and saw inside of it a red beast with a flaming tail dozing. She put her hand on the glass. "Precious specimen…?" she murmured, before turning to Barret and Zack, who had also come out of the hiding spot. "Is it going to be used for a biological experiment?"

Neither Zack nor Barret answered her verbally. Barret shrugged, and Zack was looking at a different tank altogether. He noticed the label on the top. "Jenova…" he mumbled.

* * *

_Sephiroth turned to Cloud from the entrance to Nibelheim. "It's been a while since you've been back to your hometown right?" he asked. "How does it feel? I don't have a hometown of my own so I wouldn't know…"_

_Zack scratched his head as Cloud meekly ducked away. "Eh. What about your parents?" the SOLDIER asked._

_Sephiroth turned his eyes to his friend. "My mother's name is Jenova. She died right after she gave birth to me and my father…" He began to laugh. "He he ha ha. What am I talking about…? Well let's go."_

_With that, he turned and started to walk into Nibelheim. Zack braced his hands on his hips. "Your mother's name is Jenova? Hmm?"_

_Zack looked up at the door at the top of the stairs as Sephiroth began searching for the problems in the reactor. "JENOVA." He headed up the stairs in curiosity. "That's weird." He tried the door, but it wouldn't open. "The lock won't open…" And then suddenly, it clicked in his brain. "Jenova?!" He jumped away from the door as if he had been burned._

Zack came out of his daze to find himself on Tifa's lap, her worried face swimming in and out of focus. Apparently, from the looks of it, he had passed out on her. She helped him sit up and he held his head in his hands. "Jenova… Sephiroth's… So…they've brought it here," he mumbled brokenly, shaking his head.

"Zack, be strong!" Tifa encouraged, running her hands up and down his back soothingly.

He looked at them. "Did you see it?" he asked, gesturing toward the tank.

Barret looked over. "See what?"

Zack looked closer and saw the body inside shift. "It's moving… …still alive?" he mumbled.

Barret peered over his shoulder and took a huge step backward, his eyes wide. "Where's its fucking head?" he yelled. Zack and Tifa made gestures telling him to keep it down. Barret shook his head. "This whole thing's stupid. Let's keep goin'."

* * *

End: OMG, that was a short chapter. Compared to the rest of this fic, anyway. Shocking, isn't it? Things to look forward to next chapter: Red XIII comes onto the scene. Attempt at the rescue, take 1. And it's the second to last chapter, guys!

So, review you worm babies you! :D

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	10. Part II Chapter Nine

Blind SOLDIER  
By BlueFox

_**DO NOT COPY MY STORIES!!**_

_If anyone wants to post my stories anywhere else, please just ASK and then give me credit for writing it. PM with any requests._

Intro: Welcome back, everyone! Decided to get off of my lazy ass for you all! :D Seriously, though, I really shouldn't be spending so much time on this fic. I really oughta be trying to finish off my Prophecies of the Unknown story over in the x-overs. But I've got such a Writer's Block on it! I mean guh…

Gah! This is the second to last chapter! Ah, I know what you're all thinking: Already?! I'm a bit surprised myself, too. But then we'll come to the sequel, which goes through the entire rest of the game. And maybe…possibly…(mumbles incoherently)

Disclaimer: Hmmm…do I own Final Fantasy VII? :opens wallet and watches moths fly out: Well, I think that answers THAT question…

Part II  
Chapter Nine  
_"I wanted to be able to look out for you."_

Zack looked closer and saw the body inside shift. "It's moving… …still alive?" he mumbled.

Barret peered over his shoulder and took a huge step backward, his eyes wide. "Where's its fucking head?" he yelled. Zack and Tifa made gestures telling him to keep it down. Barret shook his head. "This whole thing's stupid. Let's keep goin'."

* * *

The elevator they were inside was cramped, and Zack found himself short of breath, but managed to rearrange the materia in Barret's armor and switching the Elemental from Tifa's to Barret's so he had the Elemental-Poison combo. He didn't know why he did that, but he just had a feeling that he should. When the elevator came to the research area, the three AVALANCHERs ran out toward where the container was, and inside of it was Cloud and Aeris.

Fury boiled in Zack's veins as he ran up, shouting his friends' names.

Hojo looked mildly interested as he pushed the glasses up higher on his nose. "Aeris is her name?" He peered closely at Zack before smiling. "Ah, and so I have both of my old specimens back for more testing, hm?"

Zack glared at Hojo, his mako violet eyes smoldering. "We're taking them back," he said softly, dangerously.

Hojo glanced over at Barret and Tifa and scowled. "Outsiders……"

Barret seemed a little pleased. "Shoulda noticed it earlier, you…" he mumbled.

Hojo waved him off and looked back at Zack. "There's so many frivolous things in this world." There was a click paired with a shing as Barret held his gun at Hojo, ready to fire, and Zack held the Ultima's blade at Hojo's neck. Hojo laughed slightly, unperturbed by the bead of blood that flowed from the small cut in his neck from doing such an action. "Are you going to kill me?" he taunted Zack, raising a hand and waggling his finger. "I don't think you should. The equipment here is extremely delicate. Without me, who would operate it? Hmm?"

"Ugh," Zack sighed and took Ultima away from the scientist's neck. Slowly, Barret lowered his gun arm and glared at the ground.

Hojo chuckled again, knowing full well that he had command of the entire situation. "That's right. I recommend you think things out logically before you make any rash moves. Now bring in the Specimen!"

He waved his hand at the container and from below the red furred beast from before was lifted up from the lower floor. Cloud, as if he could sense that a hostile enemy had entered, moaned slightly and buried his head in Aeris' neck as she shuffled to the farthest corner away from the beast. The beast bared its teeth at her and got into a crouched position. Aeris protectively wrapped her arms around Cloud, trying her best to seem brave, but couldn't help but tremble in the beast's presence. Cloud held on more tightly to Aeris as the beast made its first step closer. "Zack, help!" she cried out in fear and panic, unable to do a thing without her staff or materia.

Zack rounded on Hojo, holding Ultima in an offensive position. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

Hojo gave him an annoyed look. "Lending a helping hand to an endangered species," he informed Zack. "All three of them are on the brink of extinction… If I don't help, all these animals will disappear."

Tifa looked outraged. "Animals? That's terrible! Aeris and Cloud are human beings!" she shouted.

Barret took a large step forward and readied his gun arm at Hojo again. "You're gonna pay!"

Zack glanced at Barret. "Barret! Can't you do anything?"

Barret glanced at Zack, then at his gun arm, then at the glass case, and smiled. "Awright!! Step back!" he yelled, aiming his gun arm at the case.

Hojo's eyes widened and he held out his hands to Barret as if that would stop him. "Stop!!" he cried as Barret unloaded a large round of bullets at the glass case. "Wh…What are you do—Oh!" He shielded his eyes as a brilliant white light erupted inside of the case. "My precious specimens…"

The light faded and the door slid open. The beast turned and lunged out, knocking Hojo over and viciously attacking his face and chest. Zack smiled at the scene, then came to the elevator. "Aeris! Cloud! Come on!" he said, holding his hand out to Aeris. She got Cloud to let go of her and took his hand, extending her free one to Zack and he helped them out before embracing the both of them in a group hug. A few tears were spilled by each of them, and then they heard the sound of vibration. Zack let go of Aeris and Cloud to turn and look at the elevator.

Tifa looked a little worried. "Zack…what's wrong?"

"The elevator is moving," he told her, placing a hand against the vibrating glass.

"This is no ordinary specimen. This is a very ferocious specimen!" Hojo yelled, before the beast got off of the scientist, enabling him to get to his feet and run to the nearest place with first-aid. The beast padded up to them.

"He's rather strong," he growled. "I'll help you all out."

Tifa let out a slight squeak. "It talked?"

The beast sat on his haunches and rubbed out at nose with a paw before turning his only eye to the fightress. "I'll talk as much as you want later, Miss," he purred, and then laughed in a rolling, rumbling way (I can't describe everything perfectly ya know, geez).

Glancing down, Zack could already see the monster coming up. "We'll take care of that monster." He turned to the others. "Somebody take Aeris and Cloud somewhere safe… Tifa, I'm countin' on you!" Tifa nodded and led her friends to the safety of the metal mesh up the stairs. Zack turned to the beast. "What's your name?"

"Hojo has named me Red XIII," he informed Zack, raising his paw in greeting. "A name with no meaning whatsoever to me. You may call me what you wish."

Zack nodded. The elevator stopped and out of it came Sample: HO512 and three Sample: HO512-Ops. Holding the Ultima out in front of him, Zack glanced at Barret and Red XIII. "I've seen enemies like this before. Just go for the big guy and leave the Ops alone. They'll just respawn," he told them.

Red XIII nodded but unleashed a Fire-All combination anyway as Barret shot at HO512 from his spot. Zack dodged around the Ops, grimacing as one of their Fire spells brushed his arm, and attacked HO512. But HO512 actually dodged the attack and shoved Zack a few steps back.

Angered, the ex-SOLDIER felt his Limit Break rise and allowed the energy to surround him as he drew his blade up, then slammed it into the floor. A large blue beam erupted from it and cut a large laceration in the metal flooring as it tore through HO512's stomach and chest and split the spine in half vertically, resulting in instant death. Then, the beam split and cut paths through the Ops, and they all faded into wisps of red. Spinning his sword around expertly, Zack sheathed it on his back and grinned in his victory pose and Red XIII howled in victory and Barret pumped his fist into the air.

Tifa, Aeris, and Cloud all joined them and there was much need for celebration, though they knew this wasn't the place for it. Aeris left Cloud for a second to embrace Zack and hold onto him as though he was her anchor to the world, and she let her pent up tears fall onto his shirt as he gently wrapped his arms around her and played with her braid a little, whispering in soft tones to her. Finally, she separated and withdrew back to Cloud's side, wiping her tears with a shaking hand.

"You two all right?" Zack asked her, and she gave him a little nod.

Tifa nodded as well. "They seem all right…in many ways," she told him, and Zack sighed. He knew what she had meant.

Red XIII huffed. "I have a right to choose, too. I don't like two-legged things," he informed them.

Barret rubbed his gun arm unconsciously. "What are you?" he asked.

Red XIII stared at him with his good eye. "An informed question," he rumbled. "But difficult to answer. I am what you see. …You must have many questions, but first, let's get out of here. I'll lead the way." He stood and stretched, opening his jaws wide in a yawn, before leaping over the banister to where Aeris and Cloud were standing. She took a startled step back, which caused Cloud to, as well. Red XIII bowed his head in apology. "I apologize for what happened back there. I was merely acting to throw Hojo off guard……"

Barret rudely interrupted him there. "Now we've saved Aeris and Cloud, ain't no need to be in this buildin'!" he declared. "So let's get the hell outta here!"

Zack looked at everyone. "If all six of us go together, we'll be noticed," he said. "Let's break up into two groups. Red, you go with Aeris and Cloud. Tifa, Barret, you will come with me."

Aeris nodded and smiled a little. "I'll see you later," she said taking Zack's hand and squeezing it briefly. "Don't take five years this time."

Red XIII padded up to Zack and looked up. "Don't be late. Do you know where the Elevator is?" Zack nodded, and Red XIII nodded in affirmation. "The 66th floor!"

Red XIII bounded for the elevator that the AVALANCHERs had come from. Cloud took a hesitant step forward, and Zack, realizing what he wanted, took Cloud's arms and embraced his friend, clapping in him on the back as Cloud held onto him like he was the last person on the world. Finally, Zack took a step back and ruffled Cloud's hair, smiling affectionately, though it was a wasted effort. "I'm smiling, Cloud," he told his friend, who smiled back slightly. "You be strong, you hear? I'll see you soon."

Cloud's smile faltered then and he ducked his head away. "Good bye…for now, Zack," he mumbled, and Aeris took his hand, waved at Barret, Tifa, and Zack, and led him in the direction of the elevator.

"All right, since they took that elevator, we've gotta take the one on top," he said, pointing to the metal mesh. Barret and Tifa nodded and followed him up there. They were disheartened to find no elevators on the floor, but nonetheless, Zack took them to the stairs and they descended all of them to the 66th floor, and then they boarded one of the elevators. More than likely, the others would be waiting for them in the lobby, and then they could all get out togeth-

The doors suddenly slipped open and Zack spun, Tifa and Barret following suit. His violet eyes widened in alarm at who had come in. "R-Rude!" he exclaimed at the dark skinned, bald man who wore the shades. "What is it?"

Rude raised a hand and pointed up. "Would you press 'Up' please, Zack?" he asked.

Tifa and Barret looked at Zack, who saw another familiar face approaching. "Turks? Damn, it's a trap."

Tseng stepped into the elevator as well, smiling smugly. "Was this as much of a thrill as running from the Army, Zack? Did you enjoy it?"

In a quick, fluid movement, Tseng had spun Zack around and slammed handcuffs on the ex-SOLDIER, and did the same to Tifa. Rude easily subdued Barret's struggles and clamped handcuffs onto his large wrists as well. Zack grimaced as he and the others were shoved out of the elevator and turned to the stairs.

**Moments Later…**

Zack approached the large desk of the President's office, glancing around warily for any snipers, assassins, or the like. He came to a stop in front of the desk, and saw Red XIII limp from the other stairs, one of his paws crudely bandaged. "You got caught, too?" Zack asked the fire cat, who sat on his haunches and tenderly lifted up his wounded paw, sighing. He dipped his head in acknowledgment, and Zack looked behind him, then at the entire room. Finally, he turned back to the pudgy blond President. "Where are Aeris and Cloud?!" he demanded.

The President slowly stood up, brushing his arms off unnecessarily and coughing lightly into his hand before looking at Zack. "In a safe place," he assured the ex-SOLDIER. "They are the last two of the remaining Ancients…" Zack's brow furrowed-Cissnei had only told him Aeris was the last one. Had she been lying? Suddenly, the President laughed, and Zack narrowed his eyes at him. "Don't you know? They called themselves the Cetra, and lived thousands of years ago. Now they are just a forgotten page in history."

Red XIII turned his head in the President's direction as said President walked around his desk to fully face everyone. "Cetra… Those two, are they survivors of the Cetra?" Red XIII rumbled.

The President wasn't fazed by Red XIII's ability to speak. "Cetra, or the Ancients, will show us the way to the 'Promised Land.' I'm expecting a lot out of them."

Zack stamped his foot as his fists clenched behind his back, but he kept his mouth shut-actions spoke better than words. "The Promised Land? Isn't that just a legend?" Red XIII continued his questions.

The President shrugged. "Even so, it's just too appealing to not pursue. It's been said the Promised Land is very fertile. …If the land is fertile…"

Barret's eyes flickered with recognition. "Then there's gotta be Mako!" he concluded.

The President nodded at him. "Exactly," he agreed. "That is why our money-sucking Mako Reactor is necessary. The abundant Mako will just come out on its own." He rubbed his hands together in almost childish glee. "That is where Neo-Midgar will be built. Shinra's new glory."

"Fuck!" Barret spat, taking a large step forward. "Quit dreamin'!"

The President sighed. "Oh really, don't you know? These days all it takes for your dreams to come true is money and power." There was silence from AVALANCHE, but the air had just been wound up much tighter than before. "Well, that is all for our meeting."

Grudgingly, Zack turned and saw Tseng waiting for them by the blue carpeted stairs. With a sigh, the ex-SOLDIER led his team to the leader of the Turks. However, Barret stayed behind and took another step toward the President. That was when Rude intervened and stepped in between them. "Come on, outta his way!" he ordered the bigger man.

"Hold it!" Barret bellowed. "I got a lot I wanna say to you!" He tried to dodge around Rude, but the Turk grabbed his arm and started to quite easily tug Barret toward where the others were and down to the cells.

The President turned around and chuckled. "If you need something else…talk to my secretary."

**In the Cells…**

_I wonder how Barret is doing,_ Zack thought. He got up onto the cot Tifa was sitting on and grabbed onto the large barred window that led to Barret and Red XIII's cell next to theirs and waved. Barret looked up and raised a hand in greeting. "Aeris and Cloud are Ancients, and the real name of the Ancients is Cetra," Barret began, and Zack situated himself so he was semi-comfortable on the small ledge. He saw Tifa looking up at him and grinned, and she turned away with a faint blush on her cheeks. Zack turned back to Barret as he continued. "The Ancients know where the Promised Land is and the Shinra is searching for that Promised Land." Barret looked down and unconsciously rubbed his gun arm with his normal hand. "I only heard stories 'bout the Promised Land. I don't know if it really exists." He sighed. "Is that right? The Shinra believe that the Promised Land is full of Mako energy. Which means, if the Shinra get there, they'll suck up all the Mako energy. …And the land'll wither away." He slammed his fist into the wall behind him. "The Planet's gonna get weaker. I can't just leave'em be. I'm recruitin' new members!! Me, Tifa, Zack…and Aeris and Cloud, too." Barret looked at Red XIII. "How 'bout you?" Red XIII didn't open his good eyes or seem to move at all, except for the light twitch of his tail. Barret laid the back of his head against the cell wall. "You're so damn boring."

Zack chuckled a bit. "I remember what it was like when there was nothing to worry about," he mumbled down to Tifa, who looked up quizzically. "I mean yeah, there was the war with Wutai, but it was over petty differences, and not the Planet. And we had Genesis clones everywhere, but not a huge Crisis of the Planet like this."

"Not until you guys came to Nibelheim," she told him scornfully, turning down and fiddling with her Mythril Gloves.

Zack looked up at the ceiling. "Actually, that's probably when this whole thing started," he said softly, too softly for Tifa to hear. _I wonder how Red's doing._ Zack cast a cautious glance at the beast's direction, to find that he was staring forlornly at the wall in front of him, his head on his front paws. "…………Grandpa," he murmured and sighed.

Barret tossed him an incredulous look. "Grandpa?!" He started to laugh. "Grandpa, hmm……" He laughed some more.

Red XIII turned to him, his lips drawn back in a snarl. "What's so funny?" he snapped.

Barret waved his good hand. "Nothin'……" He chuckled a bit.

"Zack, are you there?" came a voice from the other side of his cell. Zack dropped down and over to the other side. Since there was no cot here to climb on, he had to stand on the toilet and leap for the ledge, he caught it and pulled himself up on it (and ignoring Tifa go, "You could've just asked for a boost," behind him) and situated himself to semi-comfort. Aeris saw him and smiled, standing from where she had been by Cloud, who was on the cot in their cell, curled up into a small ball.

Zack sighed in relief. "Aeris, you're safe?" he asked her.

She nodded, fiddling with her bangs. "Yeah, I'm all right," she assured him. "Cloud knew that you would come for us. He kept mumbling, 'Zack will come. I know it. I feel it.' And he was right."

Zack grinned affectionately down at his chocobo-haired friend, who had loosened his ball slightly. "Well, Cloud's always been sensitive to things like that," he told Aeris, and she turned her emerald gaze to the blond as well, running her hand gently through his hair, watching a small smile come over his features.

"He is a special young man," Aeris praised.

Tifa stood and came over so she was beneath Zack. "…………Oh, I get it," she mumbled loud enough for Aeris to hear on the other side of the wall.

The flower girl gasped slightly. "Tifa! Tifa, you're there, too!"

Tifa crossed her arms and turned away with a huff. "EXCUSE me," she snapped, before dropping her arms and turning back to the wall. "You know, Aeris. I have a question."

Aeris cocked her head. "What?"

"Does the Promised Land really exist?"

Aeris began to play with the bangles on her arms. "…I don't know," she told the other woman honestly. "All I know is…" She began to bounce on her heels and balls of her feet. "The Cetra were born from the Planet, speak with the Planet, and unlock the Planet. And……then…" She sighed and bowed her head. "The Cetra will return to the Promised Land. A land that promises supreme happiness."

Tifa's brows furrowed. "…What does that mean?"

Aeris shrugged. "More than words……I don't know."

"Speak with the Planet?" Zack asked, curious.

"Just what does the Planet say?"

Aeris shook her head. "It's full of people and noisy. That's why I can't make out what they are saying," she explained lightly.

"You hear it now?" asked Zack.

She swallowed hard. "I-I only heard it at the Church in the Slums. Mother said that Midgar was no longer safe. That is…my real mother. Someday I'll get out of Midgar… Speak with the Planet and find my Promised Land. …That's what mom said. I thought I would stop hearing her voice as I grew up, but…" Her voice caught and she seemed ready to cry, but remained strong and didn't let the tears fall.

A few moments of silence later, Cloud slowly sat up, his hands cautiously over his head to make sure he didn't hit his head on anything if there was something there. "Zack?" His voice was soft, small, and timid, like it always had been when he was younger. "Are you still there?"

Zack leaned his head against the bars, swallowing hard against the lump of cotton in his throat at Cloud's fearful voice. "Yeah, Spikey, in the flesh, blood, and bone," he assured the younger man, and he saw the ex-trooper wrap his arms around his knees and lay his chin on them.

"Zack…" he whispered softly, and Zack's good hearing due to Mako caught it.

"Yeah?" he whispered just as softly, looking down at his friend, wishing he was in the same cell with Cloud.

"…I'm sorry. ……If I hadn't asked for you back…none of this would've ever happened. It's my fault," Cloud told him morosely.

"You stop that now, you hear," Zack berated him gently as Aeris sat on the bed with Cloud and gently drew the blond into her arms. "I won't stand for any of it," she scolded him as he lay in her arms and she stroked his hair. "If we need to, the more you blame yourself for everything, the more chocolate and tickles Zack and I will smother you in when we get out!"

Zack smiled down at the scene. Aeris would make a beautiful mother one day, and he decided not to intrude on the scene any longer. Silently, he jumped down and sank down to the floor. "Let's just get some sleep," he told Tifa, who nodded and took the cot. The mouth a good night to each other, and soon enough, Zack felt sleep and darkness overcome his senses.

* * *

End: Woo, there's the end of that chapter, yay! I don't have much to say for a good-bye, except that I'm sad this is the second to the last chapter. :sobs: But there will be a sequel, though how soon I'll release it is unknown at this present time.

Things to look forward to in the final chapter of Blind SOLDIER: Sephiroth and Rufus' entrances, and the escape from Midgar. Where will the story go after that? Well, you'll just have to wait 'n' see!

So, review you worm babies you! :D


	11. Final Chapter

Blind SOLDIER  
By BlueFox

_**DO NOT COPY MY STORIES!!**_

_If anyone wants to post my stories anywhere else, please just ASK and then give me credit for writing it. PM with any requests._

Intro: I'm not so mean as to hold out on the final chapter! XD See you at the bottom of the page!

Disclaimer: Hmmm…do I own Final Fantasy VII? :opens wallet and watches moths fly out: Well, I think that answers THAT question…

Part II  
Chapter Ten  
_"Cause in the end, it doesn't even matter."_

Zack smiled down at the scene. Aeris would make a beautiful mother one day, and he decided not to intrude on the scene any longer. Silently, he jumped down and sank down to the floor. "Let's just get some sleep," he told Tifa, who nodded and took the cot. The mouth a good night to each other, and soon enough, Zack felt sleep and darkness overcome his senses.

* * *

No one saw it coming. No one heard it coming. The silent whiz of the six foot long sword sliced through the air, tore through bodies, bone, muscles, and all, and never once was a cry even able to escape the lips of the victim. Just a small gurgle of surprise before the blood leaked out. It was surprising, to say the least, that the Turks hadn't shown up yet. Maybe they were off duty.

Yeah, off-duty. A dark smile glittered upon his face at the thought. Always off duty. He was searching. Searching for her. His Mother. But not only that. He was searching for another. Another who was quite close. Another Cetra. It had surprised him in the beginning, when he had felt another power so close to his Mother's. Nonetheless, it meant another to add to their army for when they sought revenge.

His long silver hair railed out behind him, almost floating of its own accord as he came to a stop in front of the Jenova tank. Blood from his victim's necks and bodies had been tossed all along the walls in a gruesome display, but to him it was nothing too horrifying. The place needed a new coat of paint, anyway. Blood red was the new white.

He casually flicked the blood off of sword and reached out, lovingly stroking the container in which his Mother was in. The body pressed up against the glass, eager to be out. They needn't speak any words, he knew what his Mother wanted. He gripped the edges of the tank's cover and effortlessly ripped it off, spraying the red preserving liquid that had been inside all over.

The body lifted itself out and a shiver ran up and down its spine before a tentacle reached up and gently stroked the side of the silver-haired man's face.

**_"Good work, my son,"_** her voice whispered affectionately within the confines of his mind. He let a small smile grace his features-his Mother was proud of him! **_"Do you know what else there is to be done?"_**

"Yes, Mother," he murmured, leaning into the tentacle upon his face. "Assassination of the President."

**_"Yes, yes,"_** she purred. **_"And then you will join me in Junon."_**

"What of the other Cetra?"

Jenova's tentacle paused in its rubbing of his face and slowly fell to the body's side. **_"What other Cetra?"_** she demanded.

The silver haired man flinched, but continued nonetheless. "I sense the presence of another Cetra on this floor. Surely it would be wise to bring him with us?"

**_"Hmm,"_** Jenova mused. **_"It must be a very strong Cetra, if he is able to cloak his presence from me."_** The body made an approving movement. **_"If he will not hinder our plans, then yes, bring him with. However, if at the first sign he will interfere, it will be up to you to get rid of him. Understood?"_**

He flinched again at the harshness of her words, but nodded nonetheless. "Thank you, Mother," he whispered, then watched almost with childlike awe how one of the tentacles stretched, then broke off of the body and floated to him.

**_"Keep this with you, my son, so that we may communicate over long distances."_**

And with that, Jenova's body flew toward the window, shattered it, and flew away.

**Five Minutes Later…**

He took slow, methodical steps down the hallway by the cells, cutting through the snoozing guard effortlessly and watching with mild satisfaction as the pathetic human slumped down and fell to the floor, face down into the growing pool of his own blood. Closing his eyes, he sensed the Cetra's presence coming strongly from within the cell closest to him, he also felt a familiar presence coming from the cell in between. Curiosity taking him over, he narrowed his glowing blue-green eyes and stepped to the cell.

He easily opened it with his code-seems Shinra wasn't smart enough to take a presumed dead person's password out of their database- and stepped inside. What he saw surprised him.

Their faces were familiar, even after not seeing them in so long. That foolish girl and his best friend, both in this cell. He was lucky they were asleep, and apparently not light sleepers, for if they had seen him, he knew there would have been hell to pay.

"They should be dead," he mumbled coldly as he stepped closer to the woman. He remembered her last words to him before he had taken his sword away from her and sliced her down her chest.

_"Papa… The townspeople…"_

She had so foolishly charged up the stairs after him. He had thought he had cut her deep enough to kill, but apparently not. Turning, he saw his old friend slumped over against the wall opposite the woman. His breathing was deep and even, and he remembered, with a slight smile, that he was one of the deepest sleepers SOLDIER had ever seen. The silver haired man remembered fighting him, as well.

_"No…you're the not the Sephiroth I once trusted."_

He had thought he'd slain his friend as well, but he had been wrong, because he was here like the woman, alive and well. He shook his head and turned to leave. It would be best the younger man didn't know he was alive. He wouldn't be trusted anymore. And, the black-haired man would only get in the way. He wasn't who Sephiroth was here for.

The ex-General left the cell door open and went to the cell next to it to retrieve the Cetra that lay within. He typed in his password and the door opened almost quietly. However, to his absolute shock, the female occupant of this cell was wide awake. She looked up, curious as to who had entered, and when her deep emerald eyes met his lighter ones, she stumbled to her feet with a squeak and retreated as far from him as he could. But even so, from the meeting of their eyes, he knew she was who he was looking for. The Cetra.

"Seph-" she began, but he instantly cut her off with the raising of his hand.

"Quiet. You are coming with me, Cetra," he told her, his tone tight and commanding.

That's when the other occupant in the small cell caught his attention. He, too, was sleeping, but it didn't matter. Sephiroth instantly recognized him as the one who had thrown him into the Mako all those years ago. That little cadet who had caused him more trouble than needed. He narrowed his eyes harshly and silently walked to the sleeping blond.

"I thought you were dead?" the pink-clad Cetra asked him as she stepped closer to the blond.

He snorted. "Apparently not," he told her, then gestured to the blond who was sleeping. "But this one is the one who threw me into that vat of Mako." Silently, he unsheathed Masamune and raised it over the slumbering blond. "Pathetic…"

With a gasp, the brunette shoved his arms away. Startled, looked at her, though his mask never moved from his face, and his blade was still raised to the blond. "No, please!" she cried, standing in front of the blond, as if to protect him. "He is a Cetra as well!"

Sephiroth's brows snapped together. "This boy?" He gestured to the blond, and when the brunette nodded, he shook his head. "Not that I can remember."

Something sparked in her fierce green eyes. "But he is!" she assured him. "I can feel his power. Can't you?" Suddenly, she sounded skeptical of him.

Sephiroth tentatively reached out with his own power and nudged at the blond's presence. What felt like a whip snapped out at him and a jolt of what felt like electricity surged into him. Odd, he remembered someone else having the same power, and it hadn't been the blond. Shaking his head, he lay cool Mako eyes on the flower girl. "Of course I can. What do you take me for, a fool?" he scoffed, sheathing Masamune and turning to the exit of the cell. "Come. We have much ground to cover."

The brunette folded her arms stubbornly over her chest. "I'm not going alone. Cloud comes, too," she told him.

Sephiroth sighed. "Very well. Now come along, Cetra. We don't have all day."

The pink-clad woman narrowed her eyes at him. "My name is Aeris," she told him, but he didn't answer her and merely stood guard outside of the door, in case the other two awoke. Aeris shook her head and turned to Cloud, gently rubbing his shoulder until he woke up. "Come on, Cloud," she whispered to him. "We're leaving."

"Where?" he mumbled, reached out and placing his hand on her shoulder once he was able to find it. "Is Zack coming?"

Aeris' face turned down. "No, he's not coming. Sephiroth's here for us. We're leaving with him."

"Sephiroth?!" he yelped, and the silver-haired man waiting outside looked in. His brows snapped together as he got a good look at Cloud's eyes, seeing them fogged over. _He's blind?!_ he yelled mentally. _How the hell…?_

"Shh, calm down, Cloud, it'll be all right. He won't hurt us. He came for us, to get us out of here. Please come with us."

Cloud's head dipped down in uncertainty. "What about Zack…?" he mumbled.

Aeris ran her hand through Cloud's spikes. "He thinks Sephiroth is dead," she told him softly. "I don't think he'd like that wake up call."

It took a few more moments of coaxing before Cloud finally agreed to come. He sheathed the Buster Sword on his back easily, from seeing Zack do it so many times back when he could see, and Aeris picked up the Full Metal Staff Tifa had stolen for her in the Train Graveyard, and then took Cloud's hand and approached Sephiroth. "Ready?" he asked her quietly, and she nodded. He gave her a curt nod and turned for the hallway, gracefully walking through it.

Almost shyly, Aeris followed him, before pausing at the bend and glancing back at the other cells that housed her friends. She closed her eyes in a silent farewell, and felt Cloud squeeze her hand slightly. "Is something wrong, Aeris?" He sounded a bit frightened at her hesitant aura.

"Oh, no, no, Cloud," she assured him, rubbing her thumb over the top of his hand gently. "Nothing's wrong. Let's go." And then she caught sight of Sephiroth by the elevator and gently tugged Cloud in the right direction, trying her hardest to hide her tears.

* * *

Zack's internal clock woke him up at about eight the next morning. Slowly, he opened his eyes and ran a hand through his spikes, shaking his head. He could've sworn he had seen Sephiroth come into his cell earlier, but decided it must've been a dream. Sephiroth, like Angeal, was dead as a doornail. He had seen the General's death through blurry eyes, but he couldn't mistake the black and silver dot being thrown into the Mako below and Cloud stumbling his way back in before collapsing at the foot of the Reactor stairs.

So, it was only plausible that Zack had been dreaming. Right?

He looked toward the cell door, and his eyes widened in alarm. Wrong. Wrong, wrong, WRONG! "The door's open," he told himself in shock, the situation smacking him harshly into reality. He jumped to his feet and grabbed Ultima from where it had been braced against the wall. Holding it tightly, he walked out from the cell and saw the guard laying face down in a puddle of his own blood that was slowly congealing into a nasty, gruesome mess. And the cell that had once held Cloud and Aeris…

…was open.

Anxiety and fear both gripped Zack's insides in an iron fist as he crept to the doorway and peeked inside. The good news was that Aeris and Cloud were still alive. The bad news was that they were gone, and he had a good idea as to whom had taken them. He hoped to Shiva he was wrong.

Zack spun on his heel and ran back into his cell to Tifa, shaking her urgently. "Tifa…" he whispered. "Tifa! Wake up!"

Her burgundy eyes fluttered open and she looked up sleepily at him. Her brain had yet to fully turn on, and therefore she didn't register the look on Zack's face as that of urgency. "What's wrong?" she mumbled, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

Zack pointed to the hallway. "Something's wrong. Look outside," he told her.

She gave Zack's face a good, long look, before nodding to appease him and standing. She walked to the hallway and looked over at the dead guard. That was enough to finally wake her up, and she slapped her hands over her mouth to keep from screaming. She noticed Cloud and Aeris' open cell door and ran to it, afraid of what she would see. Upon seeing nobody inside, she sighed in relief, and then her still somewhat sluggish brain comprehended that nobody was in there and she let out a light wail. "What happened?" she asked Zack, her eyes wide with fright.

He slowly approached the dead guard and turned him over, grimacing at the horrible wound. "He should have the key on him…" Grinning, he grabbed the key and let the body drop back into its own puddle of blood with a splat and his grin turned into a sick grimace. Tifa's face held the same kind of expression. "Come on, Tifa, let's get Barret and Red."

She followed him to the last cell on their row and he swiped the card through the keypad-apparently Zack didn't think of using his password like Sephiroth did-and the door slid open. Red XIII looked up from where he had been resting and Barret opened a lazy eye at Zack. Both were on their feet when they saw the look on his and Tifa's faces. "How'd you get in? Why's the door open?!" Barret demanded, before shoving past Zack and Tifa and seeing the dead guard. Red XIII followed suit and began to sniff the body as Barret saw the empty cell that had once housed Cloud and Aeris. "The hell's goin' on?!" he yelled.

Red XIII made a small whining noise and backed away from the body. "No human could've done this," he informed them. "I'll go on ahead." With that he bounded away.

Barret looked at Tifa and Zack and waved them off. "I'll clean up back here, so you guys go ahead. And don't get caught by Shinra!" he warned them.

Tifa put her hand on Zack's arm. "Come on, let's follow Red," she told him, steering him away from the gruesome sight of the guard and down the hallway. Outside of the cells, it was no better, and blood splattered almost every inch of the walls, dried by now in horrifying splatter effects, and bodies of Shinra employees lay face down in their own crimson wastes. They followed what seemed like the fresher trail of blood, both of their stomachs turning at the stench of death that hung over them until they came to where the Jenova specimen had been, and Tifa gagged. A liquidy, red substance-she didn't know whether it was blood or not-was absolutely everywhere, the cover of the Jenova tank strewn off to the side. Red XIII was staring intently at the hole where Jenova had been in, before turning his one eye to the pair.

"Jenova Specimen…" he murmured, then nodded to the red trail leading away. "Looks like whoever did this went up using the elevator." He trotted toward the elevator and Tifa and Zack followed along behind him. They had to wait for the elevator to come back down before the pair of them could board it.

"This is sickening," Tifa murmured to him as they went up, and Zack took her hand slightly in comfort and gave it a little squeeze. A small smile fluttered across her face and a light pink dust came on his and they let go when they reached their stop. Red XIII turned his head to them as they approached.

"It looks like it leads up," he told them, and then followed the trail through the door beneath the metal mesh. Slowly, Tifa and Zack followed the trail all the way up to the President's office. There, what they saw had them all reeling as Barret came in after them. He, too, looked to be in shock.

The President was slumped over on his desk, the Masamune look-alike Murasame stabbed through his back. "He's dead…" Barret mumbled. "The leader of Shinra, Inc. is dead…"

Slowly, Tifa approached the sword and tentatively touched it. She didn't know that there was a Masamune look-alike, and so she mistook it for the legendary weapon. "Then this sword must be…?!" She gave Zack a horrified look.

"Sephiroth's," he confirmed.

Tifa stumbled back, her eyes wide. "…Sephiroth is alive?" Her voice was pained.

Zack approached Murasame. "…Looks like it," he told her truthfully, because Murasame did look like Masamune. "Chances are…he took Cloud and Aeris with him." Why didn't I confront him when he came into our cell? I'm such an idiot, he thought to himself.

Barret stamped his foot. "Who cares who did it?!" he yelled. "This is the end of the Shinra now!"

Suddenly, Zack caught sight of a balding gray man in a tan suit peek out from a pillar and then attempt to run the way no one was looking. Using his SOLDIER speed, Zack unsheathed Ultima and jumped in front of Palmer, placing the sharp blade against his neck warningly. "P-P-P-Please, don't kill me!" he stuttered.

"What happened?" Zack demanded.

"Se-Sephiroth," Palmer stuttered out. "Sephiroth came."

Zack pushed the blade harder against Palmer's neck. "Did you see him? Did you see Sephiroth?"

"Yeah, I saw him! I saw him with my own eyes!"

"You really saw him?"

"Guh! Would I lie to you in this predicament?" He gestured to the huge blade against his neck. "I heard his voice, too! Um, he was saying something about not letting us have the Promised Land. And then he left with some blond kid and a girl in a pink dress!"

Tifa approached him from behind. "Then what? Does that mean that the Promised Land really exists and that Sephiroth's here to save it from Shinra?" She sounded disbelieving.

Barret scratched his head. "So he's a good guy then?"

"A good guy?" Zack echoed hollowly. "No way!! It's not that simple! We know him!" He nodded to Tifa and himself.

"Sephiroth's mission has to be different," Tifa agreed.

Suddenly, the sound of whirring helicopter blades cut through the silence in the room and all four AVALANCHERs looked up to see a helicopter landing. Palmer ducked beneath Zack's blade and around Tifa and started to run for the door. In the cockpit, Zack saw someone who he instantly recognized.

"Rufus?!" he yelled in exasperation.

"Fuck!" swore Barret. "I forgot about him!"

Tifa looked confused. "Who's that?" she asked.

Barret ran a hand over his face. "Vice President Rufus," he told her.

Zack sheathed Ultima on his back. "The President's son." An old friend, he added silently before leading the others out after Palmer to greet the new President. Stepping off the elevator came a light sandy blond man in a white suit, his black dog-looking thing following behind him. He noticed the four who had come out and regarded them calmly.

"So… So Sephiroth was actually here," he said, and the looks on AVALANCHE's faces was enough to tell him so. "Who are you?"

Zack stepped forward, holding onto Ultima. "Zack Fair, former SOLDIER First Class, since you forgot!" he uncharacteristically snapped.

Barret pumped a fist into the air. "I'm from AVALANCHE!" he yelled.

Tifa raised her hand. "Same here!"

Red XIII merely blinked. "…A research specimen," he intoned.

Rufus flicked at his bangs and chuckled a bit. "What a crew," he mocked. "Well, I'm Rufus. The President of Shinra, Inc."

Barret stomped his foot and readied his gun arm. "You only President, 'cause yer old man died!" he accused.

Rufus nodded and began to wander amongst the group, looking at each of them closely. "That's right," eh told the gunman. "I'll let you hear my new appointment speech. …Old man tried to control the world with money. It seems to have been working. The population thought that Shinra would protect them." He chuckled at the thought, shaking his head. "Work at Shinra, get your pay. If a terrorist attacks, the Shinra army will help you. It looks perfect on the outside." He finally went back to where he had stepped off the helicopter. "But, I do things differently. I'll control the world with fear. It takes too much to do it like my old man. A little fear will control the minds of the common people. There's no reason to waste money on them."

Tifa shook her head. "He likes to make speeches just like his father," she mumbled.

Zack looked over at Barret. "Get out of this building, NOW!" he ordered.

Barret did a double take. "What?" he asked.

Zack shook his head. "I'll explain later!" he said. "Barret! This is the real crisis for the Planet!"

Barret looked confused. "The hell's that supposed to mean?"

Zack ground his teeth. "I'll tell you later!" he very nearly yelled. "Just take my word for it now. I'll go after I take care of him!"

Barret nodded. "Awright, Zack!" he agreed before turning and leading Red XIII and Tifa to the 69th floor. Just as they passed through the door, Tifa stopped. Red XIII and Barret turned to her.

"I'll wait for Zack!" she told them. "Everyone, get to the elevator!" The door slid closed behind her, and Barret looked down at Red XIII.

"Hmm," the large cat mused, "it's probably going to get pretty ugly from here on out. We should check on our equipment." They rearranged their materia so that Red XIII had Bolt and Restore-All, and Barret had Ice, Restore, and Poison. They then proceeded to the elevator. As they began to descend in theirs, another one rose from below, and upon it was what seemed to be a large armored tank. It shot open the glass on both containers, and the battle began.

**With Zack…**

Rufus sighed, shaking his head. "Why do you want to fight me, Zack?" he asked the ex-SOLDIER. "I thought we used to be friends."

Zack calmly unsheathed Ultima from his back and Dark Nation stood on all fours, growling menacingly at Zack, hackles raised. "You seek the Promised Land and Sephiroth," he stated simply.

Rufus got a thoughtful look upon his face. "Hm, exactly," he agreed. "Mm? Did you know Sephiroth is an Ancient?"

Zack's eyes narrowed as he got into his offensive stance. "Yeah, I remember how he wouldn't shut up about it in Nibelheim," he spat, feeling his Limit Break rise. Subconsciously, he was shocked with himself-these last few days had really put a damper on his normally cheery attitude. He could still feel it flickering around deep inside him, but he knew now wasn't the time to be cheery. He shook his head. "Anyway, I can't let either you or Sephiroth have the Promised Land!"

Rufus sighed and pulled his gun from its holster. "I see. I guess this means our friendship is over," he told the other man sadly.

"Guess so."

Zack surged forward, propelled by his inner anger that now fully blossomed. Dark Nation leapt forward to protect his master as Rufus shot Zack in the shoulder. The ex-SOLDIER felt nothing-he had been through much worse-and attacked Dark Nation with a Cross-Slash, easily taking out the dog before it knew what hit it. His violet eyes glowed fiercely as he spun to attack Rufus, who nimbly jumped away and let out another shot at Zack.

It bounced harmlessly off the Ultima's wide blade and when Zack next looked, Rufus was right in front of him. He raised the gun and pulled the trigger at Zack's face, point blank. Thankfully, Zack had very good reflexes and he managed to dodge the brunt of the bullet, and it grazed across his eyebrow, leaving a small and shallow cut that had lots of messy bleeding.

He took the time to kick Rufus back and heal his wounds with a Cure2, leaving a crescent moon shaped scar where he had been hit (think like Cloud's in AC) and the bullet within him dissolved against the magic that was healing him. When he looked up from his ministrations, Rufus smiled. "Heh, that's all for today," he dismissed Zack as a helicopter swooped down to pick him up. Dark Nation limped up and jumped in first and Rufus merely grabbed onto the rung and allowed it to carry him away.

"Damn," Zack swore as he sheathed Ultima on his back and turned to catch up with the others inside. He slid down the banister of the stairs to the 69th floor where he found Tifa waiting for him, fiddling around with her gloves. She noticed him and then looked around curiously.

"Where's Rufus?"

Zack shook his head. "I couldn't finish 'em," he told her, disappointed. Her eyes dropped to the floor as Zack turned her to the door and guided her out. "Looks like this's gonna get complicated."

**With Red XIII and Barret…**

The elevator stopped at the bottom and Red XIII cast a few rounds of Restore on the both of them to get their energy back up after the two long fights, then they left the elevator and came to the receptionist Shelley's desk. Barret looked at Red XIII. "I'll go on ahead," he said. Barret ran out, and the sounds of gunshots reverberated outside, making Red XIII wince. Barret came barreling back inside, and took out a few soldiers as the doors were open, before rejoining Red XIII. "Fuck…surrounded. If I was alone, this wouldn't be a thang, but… I gotta reputation to protect."

Red XIII scratched at one of his ears. "May I suggest that we think of a way to get out of here?"

Barret came out of his musings. "Huh? Oh, oh yeah…" Then, he mumbled, "You a cold man. Just like someone else 'round here I know."

Red XIII cocked his head, ears pointed toward him, his one eye narrowed slightly. "Did you say something?" he asked, his tail twitching irritably.

Barret grinned and shook his head. "Notta thing." Red XIII slowly turned his attention to the front doors, but he kept one ear trained on Barret for what he had to say. "So, what're we gonna do?"

"Barret!!" Red XIII and Barret spun to see Tifa come running down the blue carpeted steps, slightly out of breath.

"Tifa!" the gunman greeted as Red XIII dipped his head. "Where's Zack?"

Tifa beckoned them over. "Over here!" She turned and ran.

Barret looked clueless. "Huh? What's up? Where's Zack?"

Tifa spun around, looking very impatient. "I'll tell you later! Hurry, hurry!" she quite practically screamed at him. Red XIII and Barret glanced at each other before following her to the vehicle storage area. Tifa picked out a large blue truck and threw herself into the driver's seat. She smiled slightly upon seeing the keys in the ignition and turned them. She almost squealed like an eight-year-old as the engine roared to life. Behind her, she felt Barret climb in and, momentarily forgetting about Red XIII, drove the truck off the podium it was on. There was a cry before Red XIII made a large pounce and landed in the bed of the truck. Tifa gave him a sheepish look through the rearview mirror, and flinched when the roar of a motorcycle came to her ears suddenly.

Zack sped around the corner on a sleek black Hardy Daytona, his eyes bright with excitement as he looked at her. She looked at him and gave him a slight smile, which he returned with a wink, revved the engine on his motorcycle, and took off at high speeds toward the large windows overlooking the highway and the glass easily shattered. He fell and landed solidly on the highway, losing a little speed, but he quickly got it back as Tifa followed suit out of the shattered window. That's when the fun began.

**Near the End of the Highway…**

"Have the bastards gone yet?" Barret swore, slamming his gun arm against the truck's bed, which trembled upon impact.

"Barret, stop that!" Tifa shouted over the steering wheel, refocusing her mind back on driving and not running Zack over as he continued to meander in her way countless times. The truck jerked slightly as Tifa winced when she drove over a bump, which she automatically knew, wasn't an ordinary speed bump. It was then that Zack decided to drive up to her window, and she gave him a small glance.

Zack caught the glance and gave her a small wink, grinning as he saw the fightress shake her head and mouth 'show off'. He gave her a final look and pulled back behind the smiling brunette. The sound of the Ultima Weapon clashing with metal went unnoticed to Tifa as she continued to drive before slamming her brakes as her eyes grew wide on what she saw. Her pupils dilated as one thought ran through her mind...

_Oh. My. GOD!_

"What the hell?" Zack grumbled to himself as he saw a dead end drawing near. But what really shocked him was the huge armored vehicle that was quickly gaining on them from behind. The ex-SOLDIER immediately went on alert as he moved himself to be in front of the truck bringing it to an ultimate stop when he idly noticed that the weapon was indeed "MOTOR BALL" which reminded him of the other weapon he last fought at the reactor before he fell...

Zack's violet eyes shone with anger as he recalled the memory of Tiffania and how she had become a martyr to save his, Tifa, and Barret's skin. Growling slightly at the thought, he looked at the robot with renewed anger. Motor Ball seemed to screech in response as he hauled out two large guns out of his shoulders.

* * *

"Oh fuck! What the hell is THAT?!" Barret shouted out as Tifa followed Zack's example in swerving to a stop. As she hopped out of the truck, Barret pulled himself out of the truck's bed as Red XIII disembarked with a fluid jump ad they all ran up to Zack.

"Use your Bolt materia!" Zack advised as he launched a Bolt3 spell at Motor Ball, pausing its attack. The attack instantly was replicated as Tifa cast her normal Bolt spell, which gave Zack enough time to slash Motor Ball's mid section.

"Damn, I have no Bolt materia," Barret cursed to himself, getting angry as felt the Ice materia flare up, before changing his mind and unleashing a barrage of bullets as Red XIII cast his Bolt spell.

The robot jerked and shuddered, as it's left gun side was blown off to then send out a powerful beam, which seriously crippled the team. Red XIII instantly saw the danger as he cast a Cure-All, curing the whole team from their fatal injuries as Tifa's anger went to her highest. The yellow-red aura of her Limit Break surrounded her. She rushed forward in a mad rage.

"Beat Rush!" she cried out as she pounded the robot's torso down. Barret had already seen this plenty of times, but Zack and Red XIII could only watch her in mild stupor as she flipped over in a somersault, shattering the right arm of Motor Ball just as Barret let out an Ice spell.

Finding that the robot had its defense down because of the way it shuddering and sputtering, Zack took no time as he forced his Limit Break out. The one and only Omnislash. In a speed on which Zack had rarely used, he dashed up to the weapon as his sword was arched up high in position before striking down a multitude of slashes and embedding the final slash into the robot's torso.

In a dramatic finish, the ex-SOLDIER leaped high into the air before bringing Ultima down in a large arc that ended with a brilliant flash of light. The robot glowed red as it crashed down onto the ground with a tremendous thud. Dust clouds rose from the ground causing the AVALANCHE warriors to cover their faces.

After a few moments as the dust cleared, Zack looked up and saw the once proud weapon laying in pieces upon the ground. Walking slowly towards it, he noted that the face piece was not glowing thus meaning it wasn't in action and wasn't going to be getting up any time soon.

Not long after everyone was healed did Barret approach Zack. Zack's face had a grim expression to it, his mako violet eyes fiercely glowing as he stared at the exit out of Midgar below them. "Well, what do we do now?" asked the gunman.

Zack sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Sephiroth is alive, and he's got Aeris and Cloud with him," he began, and fatigue was evident in his voice. "I have to chase them down and get my friends back. Then, I'll settle the score."

"And that'll save the Planet?"

"I'm pretty sure it will."

Barret pumped his fist into the air. "Awright, I'm going!"

Tifa looked around. "Well, I guess this is goodbye, Midgar."

**At the Exit…**

Zack pointed out to the rocky plains in front of them and in the direction of Kalm. "Then… Let's go!" he declared.

Barret coughed a little, and they all looked at him. "We need a group leader for our journey," he said. "'Course, only me could be leader."

Tifa cocked her head a little. "You think so…?" She thought for a second, before pointing at Zack. "It would have to be Zack."

Barret sighed and glared at the ground. "Damn……awright," he hesitantly agreed. "If something happens, we'll meet up at Kalm. 'Sides, we can't have 4 people strolling down the fields. It's too dangerous. Split us into two parties…"

Zack pointed at Tifa. "She comes with me," he said.

Barret shook his head. "I thought you'd do somethin' like that," he mumbled, and both Tifa and Zack blushed a little.

Red XIII sighed, his tail flickering in the fading light. Time just flies by when you're trying to escape from a slaughterhouse. "I will travel with you as far as my hometown. Until then…" He dipped his head graciously, stood on his paws, stretched and yawned, before trotting off.

Barret raised his hand in farewell. "All right, see you at Kalm," he parted.

"Yeah. At Kalm." Zack and Tifa nodded.

**End of Blind SOLDIER  
To be continued in Blind Soul

* * *

**

End: And it's over! W00T I'm happy! (does a little jig on her bed and falls off) Oww… Either way, YAY!

Cloud, Zack, Zidane, and Fang: WHOOHOO! (throws confetti in the air and blows noisemakers)

But alas, this means I'm going to have to start up with the sequel… And I've only edited the Game Script up to the whole Nibelheim flashback thing at the Crater! I'm absolutely stumped on how to change that to work for Zack. I mean seriously. Make him go the whole thing for a third time? Aargh! (rips hair out)

Ack! I should stop worrying about the sequel! Because honestly, I have to finish my other fics, like Destiny Has Nothing To Do With It and Haunted (coming soon, for all you Cleon fans!) and get started on my other Yunesis fic, Timeless, as well as my FF9/7 crossover, Warrior's Run. After Timeless I'll get to work on Blind Soul. Woo! And, to be fair, since, unlike other people, I didn't put who says the quote in each chapter, here's a list:

Prologue: "In heaven, an angel is no one in particular."  
–George Bernard Shaw

Chapter I: "We're friends, right?"  
–Zack Fair, Final Fantasy VII saga

Chapter II: "I don't know how I got this way; I know it's not all right."  
–Linkin Park, Breaking the Habit

Chapter III: "There's no escape now, no mercy no more."  
–Within Temptation, Angels

Chapter IV: "There's just too much that time cannot erase."  
–Evanescence, My Immortal

Chapter V: "No one would miss me."  
–Roxas, Kingdom Hearts II

Chapter VI: "Assassination is the extreme form of censorship."  
–George Bernard Shaw

Chapter VII: "Memories are nice, but that's all they are."  
–Rikku, Final Fantasy X

Chapter VIII: "The Tower my sole guide."  
–Nightwish, Escapist

Chapter IX: "I wanted to be able to look out for you."  
–Sabin Rene Figaro, Final Fantasy VI Advanced

Chapter X: "Cause in the end, it doesn't even matter."  
–Linkin Park, In the End

Well, this is it. The final chapter of Blind SOLDIER…I'M SO PROUD! Finally, an actually completed fic that isn't a oneshot! Gaspeth!

And as mean as I can be, I don't think I'll give you a hint at Blind Soul, because then you'll all be crowding my door demanded for it to go up like tomorrow or something, and I've got enough stuff on my plate as it is. So, yeah. You guys'll have to wait until my other fics (other than Prophecies and Maximum Twilight) are completed before I put up the sequel.

Boldly going nowhere,  
-BlueFox-

* * *


End file.
